PJO and HoO Read the Sea of Monsters
by Erudite19
Summary: The characters of PJO and HoO are sent back in time to the winter after Thalia was turned into a tree to read about the future with the gods. After the Son of Neptune. Sequel to my other story. Rick Riordan owns PJO and HoO.
1. Wedding Dresses

**Wooo! New story. Enjoy.**

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><p>Percy was sort of early to breakfast. But he couldn't help himself. To know that somehow you've gone back in time and are going to spend a couple weeks in that time period reading a bunch of books-with <em>Annabeth, <em>that was the best part_-_ even if the books were about him he didn't mind.

Yesterday, after the gods had finally ripped Aphrodite off of Ares, to spare whatever remained of his face from the attack he'd received from her nails, Hermes had called the gods and they had all met Percy. Of course he couldn't have helped himself when he'd seen his dad and had jumped into his arms screaming, "Daddy!" But Poseidon didn't seem to mind. He just seemed happy that Percy was fine and not in a bag full of weasels floating down the little Tiber.

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><p>The gods were already in the throne room by the time the demigods came in. There were two extra chairs on the floor. One near the door, away from Annabeth, and one right next to Annabeth. So of course, to Athena's dismay, Percy sat right next to Annabeth and held her hand.<p>

Zeus grunted. "Alright who's reading now?"

"Let Percy read." Hermes suggested. "He's the only one who hasn't read yet...since he wasn't here."

Zeus shrugged and tossed the book to Percy.

**"My Best Friend Shops for a Wedding Dress." **Percy read.

Everyone stared at Percy and Annabeth in disbelief.

"Not Annabeth-I mean she's my best friend but not _that_ best friend-I mean-" Percy started.

"Oh no," Poseidon said, a smile on his face. "Don't try to explain yourself son. At the rate you're going you might just give Athena a coronary." Then he added as an afterthought. "Hermes, I hope you're filming this."

Everyone turned to Athena to see her spasmodically grasping the holds on her chair, the color completely gone from her face. She didn't even bother to glare at Poseidon.

"Wait," Nico furrowed his eyebrows. "Does this mean you're dreaming of Annabeth shopping for wedding dresses? If you are and this is a demigod dream then doesn't that mean that-"

"Read Percy!" Annabeth shouted.

Percy hastily started to read while Poseidon tried to stop his laughing fit.

**My nightmare started like this.**

"Oh great."

Apollo looked thoughtful. "I wonder if you'll be in a straitjacket this time?"

Percy shook his head. "Not all of them start out like that. Just most of them."

**I was standing on a deserted street in some little beach town. It was the middle of the night. A storm was blowing. Wind and rain ripped at the palm trees along the sidewalk. Pink and yellow stucco buildings lined the street, their windows boarded up. A block away, past a line of hibiscus bushes, the ocean churned.**

_**Florida, **_**I thought. **

Apollo smiled fondly. "Ah, Florida."

Hermes rolled his eyes. "You're like, obsessed with Florida. You shine the sun there all the time. Why?"

Hephaestus snickered. "It's because he likes watching the girls at Miami beach. Just stands in the sun all the time and stares at them. People always think that the sun stays in the sky around noon. That's _completely_ true."

Hades smiled. "That's also why the equator was created-as an excuse so Apollo will _have_ to shine the sun there a lot. He's always watching the beaches for girls. Why do you think his cabin's so full?"

By the time Hepaestus and Hades finished Apollo was beet red and embarassed from the snickering going around the room and the glares from the godesses.

**Though I wasn't sure how I knew that. I'd never been to Florida.**

**Then I heard hooves clattering against the pavement. I turned and saw my friend Grover running for his life.**

Athena visibly sighed in relief.

**Yeah, I said **_**hooves.**_

Katie sighed. "Here we go again with the explanations."

**Grover is a satyr. From the waist up, he looks like a typical gangly teenager with a peach-fuzz goatee and a bad case of acne.**

"Gangly..." Nico mused. "I like that word too, along with neorealism."

"Nico?"

"Yeah Perce?"

"That was completely unecessary."

Thalia sighed. "That's what I said last time."

**He walks with a strange limp, but unless you happen to catch him without his pants on (which I don't recommend),**

Almost everyone had trouble keeping their breakfast down.

**you'd never know there was anything un-human about him. Baggy jeans and fake feet hide the fact that he's got furry hindquarters and hooves.**

Leo swallowed hard. "You know? You don't have to make such an emphasis on that description."

Percy shrugged. "I don't know why this is here. It looks like it's written for a mortal to read."

Everyone seemed to consider this for a while.

"Huh," Thalia said. "That would explain why you had so many explanations in the first book."

**Grover had been my best friend in sixth grade. He'd gone on this adventure with me and a girl named Annabeth to save the world, but I hadn't seen him since last July, when he set off alone on a dangerous quest—a quest no satyr had ever returned from.**

Some of the counselors smiled knowingly. "That's our goose boy."

**Anyway, in my dream, Grover was hauling goat tail, holding his human shoes in his hands the way he does when he needs to move fast. He clopped past the little tourist shops and surfboard rental places. The wind bent the palm trees almost to the ground.**

Poseidon whistled. He'd finally stopped his laughing fit. "What's wrong with you Zeus?"

Zeus grimaced at the look on Hades' face. "Why do I not like the look on your face?"

Hades grinned. "Zeus didn't like Apollo hogging the view of the girls on Miami beach so he decided to visit because he was tired of Hera's constant nagging, but the girls left when the storm came so he got pissed and told Poseidon to send a hurricane there."

Nico nodded, "That makes perfect sense."

Demeter sighed. "Like father like son."

Hades ignored the look on Zeus' face and told Percy to keep reading.

**Grover was terrified of something behind him. He must've just come from the beach. Wet sand was caked in his fur. He'd escaped from somewhere. He was trying to get away from ... something. **

"A monster?"

"The sea?"

"The screaming hot babes who are scared of Zeus' storm?"

"_Ramone_?"

"Dude, why do you keep saying that?" Travis asked.

"I don't know." Connor replied.

"Will you two stop already?" Katie hissed.

**A bone-rattling growl cut through the storm. Behind Grover, at the far end of the block, a shadowy figure loomed. It swatted aside a street lamp, which burst in a shower of sparks.**

Travis snapped his fingers. "A giant porpoise that got carried away from the sea with the hurricane Poseidon sent?"

Connor gaped at him for a split-second before nodding. "I didn't even think about that."

Everyone ignored them except Demeter. "Oh great. Now Nico's disease is spreading to you two."

**Grover stumbled, whimpering in fear. He muttered to himself, **_**Have to get away. Have to warn them!**_

"Not a porpoise!" Thalia said, just in time to stop the Stoll brothers. "A monster. Mon-ster. M-o-n-s-t-e-r."

"Jeez Thalia." Connor said. "We weren't going to say a porpoise."

Travis nodded. "We were going to say a banana."

"Oh gods." Percy muttered. "Maybe Nico really _has_ gotten to you two."

**I couldn't see what was chasing him, but I could hear it muttering and cursing. The ground shook as it got closer. Grover dashed around a street corner and faltered. He'd run into a dead-end courtyard full of shops. No time to back up. **

Dionysus stiffened a fraction of a degree on his throne.

**The nearest door had been blown open by the storm. The sign above the darkened display window read: ST. AUGUSTINE BRIDAL BOUTIQUE.**

"Oh."

**Grover dashed inside. He dove behind a rack of wedding dresses.**

"Oh." Nico said in realization. "So then, Annabeth isn't trying on wedding dresses to get married to Percy-"

Poseidon fell off his throne laughing at Athena's expression. Percy blushed a little but he didn't let go of Annabeth's hand. He continued reading.

**The monster's shadow passed in front of the shop. I could smell the thing—a sickening combination of wet sheep wool and rotten meat and that weird sour body odor only monsters can have, like a skunk that's been living off Mexican food.**

Percy rolled his eyes at the looks he got around the room. "I know, I know. Emphasis on descriptions. It's not necessarily my fault. Unless you want a book that goes straight to the point with no description or setting."

That wiped off the looks on their faces immediately.

**Grover trembled behind the wedding dresses. **

"Wedding dresses." Leo muttered. "Very macho. 100% effective when it comes to protecting a satyr."

"I know." Nico shook his head disbelievingly. "So powerful."

He didn't seem to notice the weird looks he was sent from across the room.

**The monster's shadow passed on.**

**Silence except for the rain. Grover took a deep breath. Maybe the thing was gone.**

"Nope."

**Then lightning flashed. The entire front of the store exploded, and a monstrous voice bellowed: "MIIIIINE!"**

**I sat bolt upright, shivering in my bed. **

**There was no storm. No monster.**

Hades rolled his eyes. "Of course there isn't. It's not Miami. Zeus won't be in New York."

"You're both just lucky Hera isn't here right now." Hermes shook his head.

**Morning sunlight filtered through my bedroom window.**

**I thought I saw a shadow flicker across the glass—a humanlike shape.**

Percy glanced at Annabeth knowingly.

**But then there was a knock on my bed room door—my mom called: "Percy, you're going to be late."—and the shadow at the window disappeared.**

**It must've been my imagination. A fifth-story window with a rickety old fire escape ... there couldn't have been anyone out there.**

"Yes there can." Nico smirked.

Percy frowned. He remembered the numerous times Nico had shown up on his fire escape while shadow traveling.

**"Come on, dear," my mother called again. "Last day of school. You should be excited! You've almost made it!"**

Clarisse frowned. "She's going to jinx it."

**"Coming," I managed.**

**I felt under my pillow. My fingers closed reassuringly around the ballpoint pen I always slept with. **

Demeter sighed. "And I thought Nico was crazy."

**brought it out, studied the Ancient Greek writing engraved on the side: **_**Anaklusmos. **_**Riptide.**

**I thought about uncapping it, but something held me back. **

"What?" Poseidon asked alarmed. "Why? Don't tell me you're going to be put into danger already. It's the first chapter."

Athena smirked at the turn of events. Now who was worrying and who was laughing? "Why not? He got into danger the first chapter of the first book. Who says this will be any different?"

**I hadn't used Riptide for so long…. **

**Besides, my mom had made me promise not to use deadly weapons in the apartment after I'd swung a javelin the wrong way and taken out her china cabinet.**

Hermes tsked. "If you had shown her how to swing the javelin then maybe she would have allowed you to use riptide."

"That makes no sense."

"What's your point?"

**I put Anaklusmos on my nightstand and dragged myself out of bed.**

**I got dressed as quickly as I could. I tried not to think about my nightmare or monsters or the shadow at my window.**

"So of course, you'll think about them." Thalia said.

"Yup."

_**Have to get away. Have to warn them!**_

**What had Grover meant?**

**I made a three-fingered claw over my heart and pushed outward—an ancient gesture Grover had once taught me for warding off evil.**

**The dream couldn't have been real.**

**Last day of school. My mom was right, I should have been excited. For the first time in my life, I'd almost made it an entire year without getting expelled. No weird accidents. No fights in the classroom. No teachers turning into monsters and trying to kill me with poisoned cafeteria food or exploding homework.**

Everyone looked at Percy with an incredulous looks on their faces.

He shrugged. "It's happened a couple times before. Monsters have great imaginations."

Athena turned Hermes' camera so it was focused on Poseidon. She wasn't going to miss a second of his torture.

**Tomorrow, I'd be on my way to my favorite place in the world—Camp Half-Blood.**

**Only one more day to go. Surely even I couldn't mess that up.**

Thalia shook her head, "So of course you'll find a way to mess it up."

Percy just merely sighed.

**As usual, I didn't have a clue how wrong I was.**

Thalia smiled.

**My mom made blue waffles and blue eggs for breakfast. She's funny that way, celebrating special occasions with blue food. I think it's her way of saying anything is possible. Percy can pass seventh grade. Waffles can be blue. Little miracles like that.**

"Umm," Clarisse started. "Percy passing the _first_ grade was a miracle in itself."

"Hey!"

**I ate at the kitchen table while my mom washed dishes. She was dressed in her work uniform—a starry blue skirt and a red-and-white striped blouse she wore to sell candy at Sweet on America. Her long brown hair was pulled back in a ponytail.**

Poseidon stopped worrying briefly to think about Sally.

**The waffles tasted great, but I guess I wasn't digging in like I usually did. My mom looked over and frowned. "Percy, are you all right?"**

"Or your mom just really knows you." Piper said.

**"Yeah ... fine."**

**But she could always tell when something was bothering me. She dried her hands and sat down across from me. "School, or ..."**

**She didn't need to finish. I knew what she was asking.**

**"I think Grover's in trouble," I said, and I told her about my dream.**

**She pursed her lips. We didn't talk much about the **_**other **_**part of my life. We tried to live as normally as possible, but my mom knew all about Grover.**

**"I wouldn't be too worried, dear," she said. "Grover is a big satyr now. If there were a problem, I'm sure we would've heard from ... from camp..." Her shoulders tensed as she said the word **_**camp.**_

"She knows something?" Hephaestus asked.

Apollo sighed. "For the fiftieth time... don't ask them. They won't tell you anything or they'll act mysterious."

**"What is it?" I asked.**

**"Nothing," she said. "I'll tell you what. This afternoon we'll celebrate the end of school. I'll take you and Tyson to Rockefeller Center—to that skateboard shop you like."**

Hermes smiled. _Ah, bribery in it's many forms and ways._

Rachel smiled. "Tyson's there?"

"Yeah." Percy said. Then he and Annabeth exchanged a glance. They remembered what they had first thought about Tyson. This was going to be a long story.

**Oh, man, that was tempting. We were always struggling with money. Between my mom's night classes and my private school tuition, we could never afford to do special stuff like shop for a skateboard. But something in her voice bothered me.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "I thought we were packing me up for camp tonight."**

**She twisted her dish rag. "Ah, dear, about that ... I got a message from Chiron last night."**

**My heart sank. Chiron was the activities director at Camp Half-Blood. He wouldn't contact us unless some thing serious was going on. **

Thalia sighed.

**"What did he say?"**

**"He thinks ... it might not be safe for you to come to camp just yet. We might have to postpone."**

_**"Postpone? **_**Mom, how could it not be **_**safe**_**? I'm a half-blood! It's like the only safe place on earth for me!"**

Jason smiled. "_Supposedly._ Supposedly the only safe place."

**"Usually, dear. But with the problems they're having—"**

**"**_**What **_**problems?"**

**"Percy ... I'm very, very sorry. I was hoping to talk to you about it this afternoon. I can't explain it all now. I'm not even sure Chiron can. Everything happened so suddenly."**

**My mind was reeling. How could I **_**not **_**go to camp? I wanted to ask a million questions, but just then the kitchen clock chimed the half-hour.**

**My mom looked almost relieved. **

"Saved by the bell."

**"Seven-thirty, dear. You should go. Tyson will be waiting."**

**"But—"**

**"Percy, we'll talk this afternoon. Go on to school." **

**That was the last thing I wanted to do, but my mom had this fragile look in her eyes—a kind of warning, like if I pushed her too hard she'd start to cry.**

Nico knit his eyebrows. "Don't make your mom cry Percy."

**Besides, she was right about my friend Tyson. I had to meet him at the subway station on time or he'd get upset. He was scared of traveling underground alone.**

"He has every right to be." Nico girmaced. After the labyrinth quest he didn't like traveling underground either. Unless it was in the Underworld or with Hazel.

**I gathered up my stuff, but I stopped in the doorway. "Mom, this problem at camp. Does it... could it have anything to do with my dream about Grover?"**

**She wouldn't meet my eyes. "We'll talk this afternoon, dear. I'll explain ... as much as I can."**

**Reluctantly, I told her good-bye. I jogged downstairs to catch the Number Two train.**

**I didn't know it at the time, but my mom and I would never get to have our afternoon talk.**

Poseidon sighed exasperatedly.

**In fact, I wouldn't be seeing home for a long, long time.**

An even longer sigh this time.

**As I stepped outside, I glanced at the brownstone building across the street. Just for a second I saw a dark shape in the morning sunlight—a human silhouette against the brick wall, a shadow that belonged to no one.**

**Then it rippled and vanished.**

Percy looked up from the book. "Who's reading next?"

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><p><strong>'Til next weekend. Review if you feel like it.<strong>

**Erudite19**


	2. Dodgeball With Cannibals

"I'll read." Apollo grumbled. "Since I didn't get to read last time."

"**I Play Dodgeball with Cannibals," **Apollo read.

Poseidon face-palmed. "Oh dear Triton."

**My day started normal. Or as normal as it ever gets at Meriwether College Prep.**

**See, it's this "progressive" school in downtown Manhattan, which means we sit on beanbag chairs instead of at desks, and we don't get grades, and the teachers wear jeans and rock concert T-shirts to work.**

Many of the demigods seemed in a daze.

"That sounds like a great school..."

"No grades."

"Beanbag chairs."

"Rock concert T-shirts?"

"Ramone!"

"Katie!" She had Connor on the floor in seconds and was about to deliver a punch to his face.

Travis placed his hand on her shoulder. "Woah, wait a minute Katie. Let's calm down a bit."

She stared at him for a while and then reluctantly got off of Connor and into her boyfriend's arms.

"Keep reading Apollo."

**That's all cool with me. I mean, I'm ADHD and dyslexic, like most half-bloods, so I'd never done that great in regular schools even before they kicked me out. The only bad thing about Meriwether was that the teachers always looked on the bright side of things, and the kids weren't always ... well, bright.**

"Like Apollo."

Apollo grinned, "Exactly...wait, is that an insult?"

"No," Hermes replied. "I literally mean they're not as bright."

"Thanks."

**Take my first class today: English. The whole middle school had read this book called ****Lord of the Flies, ****where all these kids get marooned on an island and go psycho.**

"Huh," Leo contemplated. "That actually doesn't sound like a bad book."

**So for our final exam, our teachers sent us into the break yard to spend an hour with no adult supervision **

Athena shook her head. "I already know this isn't going to end well."

Percy shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."

**to see what would happen. What happened was a massive wedgie contest between the seventh and eighth graders, two pebble fights, and a full-tackle basketball game.**

Athena raised a delicate eyebrow at Percy.

"It's usually worse than that."

**The school bully, Matt Sloan, led most of those activities.**

**Sloan wasn't big or strong, but he acted like he was. He had eyes like a pit bull, and shaggy black hair, and he always dressed in expensive but sloppy clothes, like he wanted everybody to see how little he cared about his family's money. One of his front teeth was chipped from the time he'd taken his daddy's Porsche for a joyride and run into a PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN sign.**

Hephaestus and Leo shared a look and burst out laughing.

"How do you run into a 'PLEASE SLOW DOWN FOR CHILDREN' sign?" Leo asked.

"That's just plain stupid." Hephaestus agreed.

"No it isn't." Hermes said. "That happens to Ares all of the time remember?"

They all cracked a smile at each other.

**Anyway, Sloan was giving everybody wedgies until he made the mistake of trying it on my friend Tyson.**

"Tyson..." Poseidon pondered.

**Tyson was the only homeless kid at Meriwether College Prep. As near as my mom and I could figure, he'd been abandoned by his parents when he was very young, probably because he was so ... different.**

The godesses frowned.

**He was six-foot-three and built like the Abominable Snowman, **

"Huh..."

**but he cried a lot and was scared of just about everything, including his own reflection.**

Poseidon's eyebrows shot up. Tyson!...Percy found Tyson? This is going to be great!...Maybe.

**His face was kind of misshapen and brutal-looking. I couldn't tell you what color his eyes were,**

Piper knit her eyebrows. Isn't it supposed to be eye?

**because I could never make myself look higher than his crooked teeth. His voice was deep, but he talked funny, like a much younger kid—I guess because he'd never gone to school before coming to Meriwether. He wore tattered jeans, grimy size-twenty sneakers, and a plaid flannel shirt with holes in it. He smelled like a New York City alleyway, because that's where he lived, in a cardboard refrigerator box off 72nd Street.**

Yup. Poseidon nodded. Definitely Tyson.

**Meriwether Prep had adopted him as a community service project so all the students could feel good about themselves. Unfortunately, most of them couldn't stand Tyson. Once they discovered he was a big softie, despite his massive strength and his scary looks, they made themselves feel good by picking on him. I was pretty much his only friend, which meant he was ****my ****only friend.**

Many of the godesses nodded towards Percy, which was kind of unnerving because Athena gave Percy a good long stare and glanced at his hand intertwined with Annabeth's.

**My mom had complained to the school a million times that they weren't doing enough to help him. She'd called social services, but nothing ever seemed to happen. The social workers claimed Tyson didn't exist. They swore up and down that they'd visited the alley we described and couldn't find him, though how you miss a giant kid living in a refrigerator box, I don't know.**

Katie sighed and turned to the Stolls. "Don't even try to answer that. Leave the explanations to Nico."

**Anyway, Matt Sloan snuck up behind him and tried to give him a wedgie, and Tyson panicked. **

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. He didn't want anyone touching his son. As if Percy didn't already get into enough trouble.

**He swatted Sloan away a little too hard. Sloan flew fifteen feet and got tangled in the little kids' tire swing.**

Poseidon chuckled darkly while everyone sent furtive looks towards him.

"He's as crazy as Hades." Demeter complained.

"Says the serial killer!" Hades snapped.

Percy knit his eyebrows in confusion. "Serial killer?"

"I'll tell you later." Annabeth said.

**"You freak!" Sloan yelled. "Why don't you go back to your cardboard box!"**

Leo frowned-he'd met Tyson right before Tyson had gone searching for Percy with Mrs. O'Leary. "Tyson isn't a freak he's just..."

"A super cool cyclopes kid who's nicer than most, likes peanut butter, makes really cool stuff, and thinks Annabeth is the coolest thing since peanut butter." Connor finished. "But no, not a freak."

"Exactly." Piper agreed-she'd met Tyson too.

Nico knit his eyebrows. "I don't get it. What's Tyson got to do in this story?"

"You mean you don't know?" Apollo asked. When Nico nodded he smiled and said, "Ha! The gods aren't the only ones in the dark!"

**Tyson started sobbing. He sat down on the jungle gym so hard he bent the bar, and buried his head in his hands.**

Percy narrowed his eyes. He remembered that event too well. He hated it when Tyson cried.

**"Take it back, Sloan!" I shouted.**

"Exactly."

**Sloan just sneered at me. "Why do you even bother, Jackson? You might have ****friends ****if you weren't always sticking up for that freak."**

Poseidon's frowned increased. Why were his children so mistreated? Oh yeah, cause they have one eye, are big and tall, and have crooked teeth. Stupid humans.

**I balled my fists. I hoped my face wasn't as red as it felt. "He's ****not ****a freak. ****He's just..."**

"Woah," Leo raised an eyebrow. "Coincidence much?"

"Or you two just think alike." Chris suggested.

Clarisse sighed. "Oh great, another Percy."

Percy decided to ignore that comment and told Apollo to read.

**I tried to think of the right thing to say, but Sloan wasn't listening. He and his big ugly friends were too busy laughing. I wondered if it were my imagination, or if Sloan had more goons hanging around him than usual. I was used to seeing him with two or three, but today he had like, half a dozen more, and I was pretty sure I'd never seen them before.**

**"Just wait till PE, Jackson," Sloan called. "You are ****so ****dead."**

Poseidon sighed. "Percy, how many death threats do you get a day?"

Percy smiled sheepishly. "Well that depends. There was one from Ares, Echidna, Hades-sort of-,"

"It's going to be a long list." Annabeth cut in.

"The Furies-I think-, two wild boars, Polyphemus-not the best brother-, Anteus-not a good brother either-, a rogue automaton-"

He glanced at Nico hesitantly, "Two wild boars-one bigger than the last-, two very powerful ancient beings-"

"Then it's one of us." Artemis said.

"Um... no. Way more ancient than you guys."

For a second, the room seemed to darken. Then Demeter said, "He must mean Hecate and Aphrodite- they're more ancient than us."

Aphrodite narrowed her eyes. "You know, I'm right here-"

"No offense to you Aphrodite."

To stop any more fights from occuring Hephaestus told Apollo to keep reading.

**When first period ended, our English teacher, **

"That must have been torture." Annabeth said. "I hate English."

"Same." Almost all of the demigods chorused.

**Mr. de Milo, came outside to inspect the carnage. He pronounced that we'd understood ****Lord of the Flies ****perfectly. We all passed his course, and we should never, never grow up to be violent people.**

Athena gaped at the book. "Is this really what they're teaching our young children today? That makes no sense what-so-ever. If that was me..."

Poseidon sent Apollo a pleading look and the sun god continued to read.

**Matt Sloan nodded earnestly, then gave me a chip-toothed grin.**

**I had to promise to buy Tyson an extra peanut butter sandwich at lunch to get him to stop sobbing.**

"Wow," Zeus marveled. "Peanut butter stops him from crying? Really? Of all the things on this planet."

Demeter frowned at him. "Oh stop marveling at his food habits. Why, anyone who eats peanut butter-with bread of course-should be welcomed as a hero..."

Hades sigheed exasperatedly. "For Zeus' sake woman! We get it. Bread-grains. Peanut butter-peanuts. What is that, a vegetable? Are peanuts a vegetable?"

Demeter opened her mouth to answer him but Hades stopped her. "Whatever. Don't answer that. Just understand that we get it. You don't have to go into details about it okay."

Demeter glared at him for a while then huffed and told Apollo to read.

**"I ... I am a freak?" he asked me.**

"No."

**"No," I promised, gritting my teeth. "Matt Sloan is the freak."**

"Yup."

**Tyson sniffled. "You are a good friend. Miss you next year if ... if I can't ..."**

**His voice trembled. I realized he didn't know if he'd be invited back next year for the community service project. I wondered if the headmaster had even bothered talking to him about it.**

**"Don't worry, big guy," I managed. "Everything's going to be fine."**

Percy winced. How could he had promised Tyson that anything was going to be fine? Well... it was in the end anyway.

**Tyson gave me such a grateful look I felt like a big liar. How could I promise a kid like him that ****anything ****would be fine?**

Travis pondered seemed to poonder it. "You could go to a store with him and terrorize the cashier until they give you the winning lottery ticket. Then you could use the money you 'won' to buy Tysona house, give him body guards, make him popular, etcetera, etcetera."

Connor nodded. "He could even make his own line of peanut butter you know? Keep the money rolling."

"That makes so much sense." Nico said. "See how helpful monsters would be if they actually helped us. And Percy could get some money too."

"Monster?" The gods chorused.

"What do you mean Nico?" Artemis asked.

Apollo sighed. "Don't ask them they'll just-"

"We get it Apollo." Artemis said. "They won't tell us. Just read."

"Sure thing 'sis."

"Don't call me 'sis."

**Our next exam was science. **

Dionysus scoffed. "Science? Science? They still teach that primitive mumbo jumbo in schools? Oh and I suppose that in a couple of years the word science won't exist and instead they'll have a completely different word for the same concept? Well?"

No one bothered to answer him out of fear that he would go into another tirade. His entire face was flushed purple.

"Read Apollo!"

**Mrs. Tesla told us that we had to mix chemicals until we succeeded in making something explode, **

Chris knit his eyebrows. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

"Aren't our lives extremely dangerous?" Annabeth questioned.

"Touche."

**Tyson was my lab partner. His hands were way too big for the tiny vials we were supposed to use. He accidentally knocked a tray of chemicals off the counter and made an orange mushroom cloud in the trash can.**

"Woah."

**After Mrs. Tesla evacuated the lab and called the hazardous waste removal squad, she praised Tyson and me for being natural chemists. **

"What?" Athena yelled outraged. "I completely agree with Dionysus. The school systems these days are an outrage. I have half a mind to..."

Poseidon gaped at Athena. "Well, isn't this a first? The godess of wisdom agrees with the god of wine. The world truly is ending."

**We were the first ones who'd ever aced her exam in under thirty seconds.**

Dionysus' eye twitched.

**I was glad the morning went fast, because it kept me from thinking too much about my problems. **

"That's not necessarily good." Jason said.

Percy nodded. "It probably would've been better if I had left right then."

"What?" Poseidon asked alarmed. "Why?"

"Um..."

...

"Read Apollo."

**I couldn't stand the idea that something might be wrong at camp. Even worse, I couldn't shake the memory of my bad dream. I had a terrible feeling that Grover was in danger.**

"No, really."

"Jeez Thals. Don't have to use so much sarcasm."

"Well it's obvious you have to leave Percy. So many clues, so many obvious clues..."

Percy rolled his eyes. "Well no one ever takes the clues until it's too late."

"You got that right." Thalia said. She took a good look at Percy and Annabeth's intertwined hands.

"What?"

"Nothing, nothing. Read Apollo."

**In social studies, while we were drawing latitude/longitude maps, **

_Oh,_ Annabeth thought. _So that's where he learned about longitude and latitude. Of course he would pay attention to that._

**I opened my notebook and stared at the photo inside—my friend Annabeth**

Aphrodite nearly shrieked for joy while Percy's face flushed.

**on vacation in Washington, D.C. She was wearing jeans and a denim jacket over her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. Her blond hair was pulled back in a bandanna. She was standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial with her arms crossed, looking extremely pleased with herself, like she'd personally designed the place.**

**See, Annabeth wants to be an architect when she grows up, so she's always visiting famous monuments and stuff. She's weird that way.**

"Weird?"

"Um..."

Connor chuckled. "Way to go Percy. Called your girlfriend weird and you've only been dating for two months. Priceless."

Aphrodite thought over this. "Two months huh?"

"Anyways," Percy said, because he was afraid of the look Aphrodite was giving him and Annabeth. "Why don't we keep reading-"

"Keep reading?" Apollo asked sweetly. "Well maybe I COULD IF YOU GUYS WOULD STOP TALKING!"

"Well..."

**She'd e-mailed me the picture after spring break, and every once in a while I'd look at it just to remind myself she was real and Camp Half-Blood hadn't just been my imagination.**

"Sure... that's why." Travis smiled. "It isn't because you have some extreme crush on her that everyone could see through but you. Which makes no sense if you ask me."

Connor shook his head. "But of course, only because you need to remind yourself that the place is real. Read Apollo-"

"If one more person even utters the first syllabe in 'read' to me I'm going to take you to the sun personally and watch you burn and melt!"

Everyone just gaped at him until Percy said, "You know that word only has one syllable in it right?"

Apollo just stared at him momentarily and then continued reading.

**I wished Annabeth were here.** **She'd know what to make of my dream. I'd never admit it to her, but she was smarter than me,**

"Well you have now."

**even if she was annoying sometimes.**

Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "Annoying?"

**I was about to close my notebook when Matt Sloan reached over and ripped the photo out of the rings.**

**"Hey!" I protested.**

**Sloan checked out the picture **

Connor started chuckling. "Checking out... Annabeth, Sloan's checking you-... you know what? I'll shut up now."

**and his eyes got wide. "No way, Jackson. Who is that? She is ****not ****your—"**

"Yes."

**"Give it back!" My ears felt hot.**

"Like they are now." Nico snickered.

**Sloan handed the photo to his ugly buddies, who snickered and started ripping it up to make spit wads. **

Nico sighed. "And there goes Annabeth. Ripped up to shreds and destined to be stuck to other kids' necks and braces."

"Nico?"

"Yeah Thals?"

"You're putting everyone in a bad mood and Apollo looks like he wants to rip your head off."

"Oh."

**They were new kids who must've been visiting, because they were all wearing those stupid HI! MY NAME IS: tags from the admissions office. They must've had a weird sense of humor, too, because they'd all filled in strange names like: MARROW SUCKER, SKULL EATER, and JOE BOB. No human beings had names like that.**

Thalia sighed. "And yet another clue that you'll probably ignore."

Percy raised an eyebrow. "You say it like you wouldn't ignore it to."

"I probably would. But until a book comes in my point-of-view I'm going to suck up almost every ounce of criticism on you that I can. Oh, and Nico's going to help."

Nico smiled at Thalia and the two high-fived each other.

"You guys are so mean."

"It's our job."

**"These guys are moving here next year," Sloan bragged, like that was supposed to scare me. "I bet they can ****pay ****the tuition, too, unlike your retard friend."**

**"He's ****not ****retarded." I had to try really, really hard not to punch Sloan in the face.**

Clarisse looked at Percy. "Why resist at all? Why not just let it loose? It won't hurt you."

Hermes stared at her for a brief moment. "Now you sound like Ares."

"I'm his daughter."

"What's your point?"

**"You're such a loser, Jackson. Good thing I'm gonna put you out of your misery next period."**

Leo smirked. "How's he gonna do that? All he has is money and sloppy clothes. That doesn't mean that he has athletic skill."

"But he has all of those other kids remember?" Rachel asked.

"Oh yeah."

**His huge buddies chewed up my photo. I wanted to pulverize them, **

"Of course you did." Rachel smirked. "That's Annabeth's photo."

"You guys are going to keep this going for a long time aren't you?" Percy asked.

"Yup." Almost all of the demigods chorused.

"We haven't seen you for like eight months Jackson." Clarisse said. "You owe me a couple losses in capture the flag and your hide in my cabin more than you can count on your hands."

"You owe us," Travis gestured to his brother and him. "Like, six pranks because we can't keep pranking Katie forever."

"Yeah," Connor nodded. "Especially since you two are a thing now."

"Wait, you're dating Katie?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, funny thing about that." Travis glanced furtively at Demeter. "Anyways. Apollo?"

**but I was under strict orders from Chiron never to take my anger out on regular mortals, no matter how obnoxious they were. I had to save my fighting for monsters.**

Leo sighed. "Do you know how much that rule sucks?"

Clarisse scoffed. "Don't even get me started on that."

**Still, part of me thought, if Sloan only knew who I really was …**

**The bell rang.**

**As Tyson and I were leaving class, a girl's voice whispered, "Percy!"**

**I looked around the locker area, but nobody was paying me any attention. Like any girl at Meriwether would ever be caught dead calling my name.**

Annabeth shot Percy a look and shook her head slightly. In response he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.

**Before I had time to consider whether or not I'd been imagining things, **

"You weren't." Annabeth whispered.

**a crowd of kids rushed for the gym, carrying Tyson and me along with them. It was time for PE. Our coach had promised us a free-for-all dodgeball game, and Matt Sloan had promised to kill me.**

**The gym uniform at Meriwether is sky blue shorts and tie-dyed T-shirts. Fortunately, we did most of our athletic stuff inside, so we didn't have to jog through Tribeca looking like a bunch of boot-camp hippie children.**

Nico giggled uncontrollably. "Boot-camp hippie children... priceless."

**I changed as quickly as I could in the locker room because I didn't want to deal with Sloan. I was about to leave when Tyson called, "Percy?"**

**He hadn't changed yet. He was standing by the weight room door, clutching his gym clothes. "Will you ... uh ..."**

**"Oh. Yeah." I tried not to sound aggravated about it. **

"You probably did."

**"Yeah, sure, man."**

**Tyson ducked inside the weight room. I stood guard outside the door while he changed. I felt kind of awkward doing this, but he asked me to most days. I think it's because he's completely hairy and he's got weird scars on his back that I've never had the courage to ask him about.**

Percy flinched. He remembered why the scars were there, which made Tyson even more brave when he went up against that sphinx in the labyrinth.

**Anyway, I'd learned the hard way that if people teased Tyson while he was dressing out, he'd get upset and start ripping the doors off lockers.**

Several people gaped at the book. Leo was the first to break the silence. "Oh, that is so cool! Where'd Tyson get all that strength? He'd have to bench press-what five hundred, six?"

"More like seven hundred." Travis muttered. "He lifted me up one day when I asked him to help me with a prank. Strong guy. Really."

Hermes cocked his head. "How do you know Tyson?... Never mind."

**When we got into the gym, Coach Nunley was sitting at his little desk reading ****Sports Illustrated. ****Nunley was about a million years old, **

Apollo whistled. "He's older than us. We should go praise him, he's like an ancient and powerful being compared to out terms. Way more ancient and powerful."

"Apollo?"

"Yeah 'sis."

"Don't call me that. Do I have to tell you to continue?"

"No."

"Wait." Demeter said. "That's probably the ancient and powerful being Percy was talking about in the first place. His stupid, million years old coach. Well, one of the beings anyways."

"Oh."

"Sure..."

**with bifocals and no teeth and a greasy wave of gray hair. He reminded me of the Oracle at Camp Half-Blood—which was a shriveled-up mummy—**

"Then how's Rachel here? You know, you guys get really aggravating when you don't answer us."

**except Coach Nunley moved a lot less and he never billowed green smoke.**

"Moved less?" Chris asked incredulously.

"Yup." Percy said. "Way less."

**Well, at least not that I'd observed.**

**Matt Sloan said, "Coach, can I be captain?"**

**"Eh?" Coach Nunley looked up from his magazine. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Mm-hmm."**

**Sloan grinned and took charge of the picking. He made me the other team's captain, but it didn't matter who I picked, because all the jocks and the popular kids moved over to Sloan's side. So did the big group of visitors.**

**On my side I had Tyson, **

"Woo!"

**Corey Bailer the computer geek, **

"Boo!"

Hermes frowned. "Don't hate on the computer geek."

**Raj Mandali the calculus whiz, **

"Boo!"

Hephaestus rolled his eyes. (Mechanics and engineering do deal with math.)

**and a half dozen other kids who always got harassed by Sloan and his gang. Normally I would've been okay with just Tyson—he was worth half a team all by himself—**

"True."

**but the visitors on Sloan's team were almost as tall and strong-looking as Tyson, and there were six of them.**

"So," Jason said. "Bad?"

"Very bad." Percy agreed.

Hephaestus shook his head. "And now we're being degraded to one-syllable questions and answers."

Dionysus sent him a look. "Well didn't you listen when I told you about the primitive mumbo jumbo they call 'science'? It'll only be a matter of time until every other subject becomes primitive also... except for wine making. That'll never become primitive."

"Of course."

**Matt Sloan spilled a cage full of balls in the middle of the gym.**

**"Scared," Tyson mumbled. "Smell funny."**

**I looked at him. "What smells funny?" Because I didn't figure he was talking about himself.**

**"Them." Tyson pointed at Sloan's new friends. "Smell funny."**

"Smell funny?" Leo asked.

"Monsters."

**The visitors were cracking their knuckles, eyeing us like it was slaughter time. **

"'Cause it is-for them." Nico said.

**I couldn't help wondering where they were from. Someplace where they fed kids raw meat and beat them with sticks.**

Hermes whistled. "You have some imagination Jackson."

"Thanks, I think."

**Sloan blew the coach's whistle and the game began. Sloan's team ran for the center line. On my side, Raj Mandali yelled something in Urdu, **

"Urdu." Nico mused. "I like that word too."

**probably "I have to go potty!" and ran for the exit. **

"There goes the calculus whiz." Piper said.

**Corey Bailer tried to crawl behind the wall mat and hide. **

"And the computer geek." Percy added.

**The rest of my team did their best to cower in fear and not look like targets.**

Clarisse frowned. "That's not going to work."

**"Tyson," I said. "Let's g—"**

Thalia sighed. "About time."

**A ball slammed into my gut. **

"Oh great." Thalia said.

**I sat down hard in the middle of the gym floor. The other team exploded in laughter.**

**My eyesight was fuzzy. I felt like I'd just gotten the Heimlich maneuver from a gorilla. **

"Interesting." Hades seemed to ponder that idea. "Nico, we should put that on my bucket list."

Nico smirked. "Put it on mines too."

Demeter merely shook her head at the two.

**I couldn't believe anybody could throw that hard.**

**Tyson yelled, "Percy, duck!"**

"How are you going to duck if you're already on the floor?" Hermes asked.

"I don't know. It's just a figure of speech." Percy said.

Nico shrugged. "You could alway fall through a crack."

"No, thanks."

**I rolled as another dodgeball whistled past my ear at the speed of sound.**

"What does the speed of sound even sound like?" Piper asked.

**Whooom!**

"That's how." Apollo answered.

**It hit the wall mat, and Corey Bailer yelped.**

Hermes grimaced. "I hope I protect him. Bless his soul, he faithfully dodged behind the mat like a good computer geek should."

"Okay," Leo said a little weirded out at Hermes' change of mood. "You know what I never got? How Hermes is the god of athletics and sports but he's also the god of innovation which means he had a lot to do with the invention of the computer and the internet."

"I don't get it." Nico said.

"Well there are computer nerds who don't excercise at all. Computers go under Hermes' domain so shouldn't computer nerds exercise too? Instead of going on the computer all of the time?" Leo asked.

All of the occupants in the room turned to the person staring at the computer screen, reading this fanfic.

...

"Anyways." Leo said. "Apollo, if you would."

**"Hey!" I yelled at Sloan's team. "You could kill some body!"**

"That's the whole point."

**The visitor named Joe Bob grinned at me evilly. Somehow, he looked a lot bigger now ... even taller than Tyson. His biceps bulged beneath his T-shirt. "I hope so, Perseus Jackson! I hope so!"**

"Finally!" Thalia said. "Now we just have to wait for Percy to sort it all out and put the clues together."

Poseidon sighed a little. Maybe now he wouldn't have to worry about Percy dying so much.

**The way he said my name sent a chill down my back. Nobody called me Perseus except those who knew my true identity. **

Nico cocked his head. "You make it sound like you're a super hero."

"In a sense, I am." Percy said.

"That's where authors got the ideas for super heroes-from myths. Don't you guys know that?" Hermes asked.

"No."

"Wow. You really need to brush up on your comic book history. Well, some of them anyways. Not the crappy ones. See, the idea for Superman's invulnerability came froom the curse of Achilles-"

Percy and Annabeth shared a look.

"Except Superman's Achille's heal is kryptonite. Not a weak spot on his body." Hermes continued. "The Green Arrow's arrows that have boxing gloves on them-that idea came from the Party Ponies. The Human Torch-came from Hephaestus' children who were fire users-"

Piper and Jason sent a look to Leo.

"Spiderman came from one of my kids, Gus-gods I'm proud of that kid-he rigged a rope with a graphling hook and took one of my winged sandals-he flew around New York city all day long with the mask that he made that became the basis for the Spiderman mask and costume. Then there was-"

"Alright Hermes." Hades interrupted. "This isn't Comic Con. Apollo?"

**Friends ... and enemies.**

"And now the clues began to click."

**What had Tyson said? ****They smell funny.**

**Monsters.**

A relieved sigh echoed around the room.

**All around Matt Sloan, the visitors were growing in size. They were no longer kids. They were eight-foot-tall giants with wild eyes, pointy teeth, and hairy arms **

"Woah," Leo said. "They're more manly than Butch."

Jason rolled his eyes at Leo.

"Who?"

"Iris' son."

Hermes smirked. "Don't let Iris hear you say that."

**tattooed with snakes and hula women and Valentine hearts.**

"Ugh. Never mind."

**Matt Sloan dropped his ball. "Whoa! You're not from Detroit! Who …"**

"That's all he can say? You're not from Detroit?" Katie questioned.

"It's alright sweetie." Travis said. "It's just mortals. They're weird like that."

"They're Laistrygonians." Athena said.

"Wow Percy." Nico said. "How'd you get yourself out of that?"

**The other kids on his team started screaming and backing toward the exit, but the giant named Marrow Sucker threw a ball with deadly accuracy. It streaked past Raj Mandali **

"Go calculus whiz!"

Everyone turned to Apollo.

"What? I don't have anyone mentioned that I could root for so I'll settle for the calculus whiz since Hephaestus obviously won't cheer him on."

**just as he was about to leave and hit the door, slamming it shut like magic. **

"It is magic Perce."

"Jeez. You weren't kidding about that sarcasm Thals."

**Raj and some of the other kids banged on it desperately but it wouldn't budge.**

**"Let them go!" I yelled at the giants.**

**The one called Joe Bob growled at me. He had a tattoo on his biceps that said****: JB luvs Babycakes.**

Nico almost fell off his chair. "Who's 'Babycakes'? What kind of name is-"

Dionysus snapped his fingers and a giant Laistrygonian with matted hair, wild eyes, and sagging cheeks appeared. She had crooked teeth, clothes that smelled of the sewer and a distinct tatto on one of her biceps that said: Babycakes luvs JB.

Nico yelped and jumped into Rachel's arms. "M-m-monster!"

_ROAR!_

"Eeep! Protect me!"

Then Dionysus looked at the big picture and saw Leo holding on to Thalia-he had a dreamy look on his face, Chris in Clarisse's arms, Percy hiding behind Annabeth-clutching her for dear life, and Travis under Katie's chair holding onto Connor tightly, Jason in Piper's arms.

Dionysus chuckled at Nico because he was sure that he was the first person to jump into someone's arms. "Relax Nero. It's just a hologram. You don't think I'd actually bring a real monster here do you?"

All of the demigods said, "Yes."

Then, at the accusing looks they got from the godesses-and a good glare at Leo from Thalia, and the approving looks from the gods, the boys stood up and after a moment of confusion, found their seats.

**"And lose our tasty morsels? No, Son of the Sea God. We Laistrygonians aren't just playing for your death. We want lunch!"**

Nico shrugged. "At least they're being _reasonable._"

**He waved his hand and a new batch of dodgeballs appeared on the center line—but these balls weren't made of red rubber. They were bronze, the size of cannon balls, perforated like riffle balls with fire bubbling out the holes. **

Hephaestus' eyes widened. _I should try making that._

**They must've been searing hot, but the giants picked them up with their bare hands.**

**"Coach!" I yelled.**

"How's he going to help?" Artemis asked.

"I don't know." Percy answered. "He's sort of a last minute reserve."

"I forgot he was still there." Jason said. "How come he didn't get eaten already? He's not even protected. Just sitting right there."

"Maybe the Laistrygonians don't like old meat?" Nico suggested.

"Maybe."

**Nunley ****looked up sleepily, but if he saw anything abnormal about the dodgeball game, he didn't let on. That's the problem with mortals. A magical force called the Mist obscures the**** true appearance of monsters and gods from their vision, so mortals tend to see only what they can understand. Maybe the coach saw a few eighth graders pounding the younger kids like usual. Maybe the other kids saw Matt Sloan's thugs getting ready to toss Molotov cock tails around. (It wouldn't have been the first time.) **

"What?"

"Long story."

**At any rate, I was pretty sure nobody else realized we were dealing with genuine man-eating bloodthirsty monsters.**

"But they still see something." Zeus said.

**"Yeah. Mm-hmm," Coach muttered****. "Play nice."**

Rachel shook her head. "Messed up."

Piper scoffed. "At least it wasn't Coach Hedge. He would've had a baseball bat to swing at your heads."

"Who's Coach Hedge?"

"Our crazy caffeinated satyr protector." Jason said.

"Oh."

Zeus frowned. Aren't all satyrs crazy?

**And he went back to his magazine.**

**The giant named Skull Eater threw his ball. I dove aside as the fiery bronze comet sailed past my shoulder.**

Poseidon's voice hitched. "I'm taking you out of English and Language Arts Percy."

"Why?"

"'Cause you're too descriptive. You'll give _me_ a coronary."

"Actually." Hades said. "I wouldn't mind seeing that-"

He was silenced by the look Poseidon gave him.

**"Corey!" I screamed.**

**Tyson pulled him out from behind the exercise mat just as the ball exploded against it, blasting the mat to smoking shreds.**

"Whoo!" Hermes screamed. "I did protect him! Go computer geek!"

**"Run!" I told my teammates. "The other exit!"**

"Why would you shout it out loud?" Katie asked.

"Reflexes?"

**They ran for the locker room, but with another wave of Joe Bob's hand, that door also slammed shut.**

"That's just not your day Percy." Thalia said.

"When is any day ever my day? Don't answer that Nico."

"Aw."

**"No one leaves unless you're out!" Joe Bob roared. "And you're not out until we eat you!"**

"Those are some very precise rules."

**He launched his own fireball. My teammates scattered as it blasted a crater in the gym floor.**

Hephaestus whistled. "Those are some bombs."

"It'd be good if we had those." Leo muttered.

**I reached for Riptide, which I always kept in my pocket, but then I realized I was wearing gym shorts.**

"Epic fail."

**I ****had ****no pockets. Riptide was tucked in my jeans inside my gym locker. And the locker room door was sealed. I was completely defenseless.**

Demeter shook her head. "And yet you sleep with the pen."

**Another fireball came streaking toward me. Tyson pushed me out of the way, but the explosion still blew me head over heels. I found myself sprawled on the gym floor, dazed from smoke, my tie-dyed T-shirt peppered with sizzling holes. Just across the center line, two hungry giants were glaring down at me.**

**"Flesh!" they bellowed. "Hero flesh for lunch!" They both took aim.**

**"Percy needs help!" Tyson yelled, and he jumped in front of me just as they threw their balls.**

**"Tyson!" I screamed, but it was too late.**

**Both balls slammed into him ... but no ... he'd caught them. Somehow Tyson, who was so clumsy he knocked over lab equipment and broke playground structures on a regular basis, had caught two fiery metal balls speeding toward him at a zillion miles an hour.**

**He sent them hurtling back toward their surprised owners, who screamed, "BAAAAAD!" as the bronze spheres exploded against their chests. **

Hephaestus gaped and turned to Poseidon who had a look of relief on his face. "Tyson is your son isn't he? A cyclopes right?"

Poseidon smiled and nodded. "Oh." The gods chorused. "So that's what Nico met by monster." Artemis said.

"Yup."

**The giants disintegrated in twin columns of flame—a sure sign they were monsters, all right. Monsters don't die. They just dissipate into smoke and dust, which saves heroes a lot of trouble cleaning up after a fight.**

"One of the only things we like about them." Clarisse muttered.

**"My brothers!" Joe Bob the Cannibal wailed. He flexed his muscles and his ****Babycakes ****tattoo rippled. **

"Eww."

**"You will pay for their destruction!"**

**"Tyson!" I said. "Look out!"**

**Another comet hurtled toward us. Tyson just had time to swat it aside. It flew straight over Coach Nunley's head and landed in the bleachers with a huge KA-BOOM!**

Everyone gaped at the book.

**Kids were running around screaming, trying to avoid the sizzling craters in the floor. Others were banging on the door, calling for help. Sloan himself stood petrified in the middle of the court, watching in disbelief as balls of death flew around him.**

"Idiot." Rachel muttered.

**Coach Nunley still wasn't seeing anything. He tapped his hearing aid like the explosions were giving him interference, but he kept his eyes on his magazine.**

"Another full-blown idiot."

**Surely the whole school could hear the noise. The head master, the police, somebody would come help us.**

"Or get you in trouble." Piper said. She could somehow relate to this scenario.

**"Victory will be ours!" roared Joe Bob the Cannibal. "We will feast on your bones!"**

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. "Wouldn't that give them indigestion?"

"Probably." Hephaestus shrugged.

**I wanted to tell him he was taking the dodgeball game way too seriously, **

"Ah, sarcasm." Hermes sighed.

**but before I could, he hefted another ball. The other three giants followed his lead.**

**I knew we were dead. **

"Way to deadpan the whole situation Percy." Rachel said. "You just might give Poseidon _and_ Annabeth a coronary."

Everyone turned to see Percy cowering under Annabeth's glare.

**Tyson couldn't deflect all those balls at once. His hands ****had ****to be seriously burned from blocking the first volley. Without my sword ...**

**I had a crazy idea.**

"Oh no."

Poseidon considered taking his blanket out but then he thought against it. He had to look good in front of his son.

**I ran toward the locker room."Move!" I told my teammates. "Away from the door."**

**Explosions behind me. Tyson had batted two of the balls back toward their owners and blasted them to ashes. ****That left two giants still standing.**

**A third ball hurtled straight at me. I forced myself to wait—one Mississippi, two Mississippi—then dove aside as the fiery sphere demolished the locker room door.**

**Now, I figured that the built-up gas in most boys' locker rooms **

Everyone wrinkled their noses.

**was enough to cause an explosion, so I wasn't surprised when the flaming dodgeball ignited a huge ****WHOOOOOOOM!**

Thalia grimaced. "That must've smelled horrible."

"You don't know the half of it." Percy nodded.

**The wall blew apart. Locker doors, socks, athletic supporters, and other various nasty personal belongings rained all over the gym.**

"Ew."

**I turned just in time to see Tyson punch Skull Eater in the face. The giant crumpled. But the last giant, Joe Bob, had wisely held on to his own ball, waiting for an opportunity. He threw just as Tyson was turning to face him.**

"No!"

**"No!" I yelled.**

**The ball caught Tyson square in the chest. He slid the length of the court and slammed into the back wall, which cracked and partially crumbled on top of him, making a hole right onto Church Street. I didn't see how Tyson could still be alive, but he only looked dazed. The bronze ball was smoking at his feet. Tyson tried to pick it up, but he fell back, stunned, into a pile of cinder blocks.**

**"Well!" Joe Bob gloated. "I'm the last one standing! I'll have enough meat to bring Babycakes a doggie bag!"**

Nico shivered at the name Babycakes.

**He picked up another ball and aimed it at Tyson.**

**"Stop!" I yelled. "It's me you want!"**

**The giant grinned. "You wish to die first, young hero?"**

**I had to do something. Riptide had to be around here somewhere.**

**Then I spotted my jeans in a smoking heap of clothes right by the giant's feet. **

"You're going to do something stupid aren't you?" Thalia asked.

"...Yeah."

**If I could only get there... I knew it was hopeless, but I charged.**

"Of all the impulsive things you do Percy..." Annabeth said.

"This doesn't even top the list." Rachel muttered.

"What?" Poseidon nearly shrieked.

**The giant laughed. "My lunch approaches." He raised his arm to throw. I braced myself to die.**

Annabeth's glare deepened. "I'm sorry. I can't help it." When she continued to glare at him he kissed her on the cheek.

**Suddenly the giant's body went rigid. His expression changed from gloating to surprise. Right where his belly button should've been, his T-shirt ripped open and he grew something like a horn—no, not a horn—the glowing tip of a blade.**

"What?"

**The ball dropped out of his hand. The monster stared down at the knife that had just run him through from behind.**

**He muttered, "Ow," and burst into a cloud of green flame, which I figured was going to make Babycakes pretty upset.**

"Y-yup." Nico stuttered.

**Standing in the smoke was my friend Annabeth. Her face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.**

"Oh."

"Not ghosts." Annabeth whispered to Percy. "Just past memories."

He seemed to understand what she meant. Going out in the world without anyone to help just like when she was seven. Surviving on her own. He squeezed her hand reassuringly and they tuned back in to the reading. No one had noticed them-except for Aphrodite who was glowing with glee.

**Matt Sloan, who'd been standing there dumbfounded the whole time, finally came to his senses. He blinked at Annabeth, as if he dimly recognized her from my notebook picture. "That's the girl ... That's the girl—"**

**Annabeth punched him in the nose and knocked him flat.**

"Yes!"

"Awesome Annabeth." Travis said.

"I'll give you thumbs up for that." Connor agreed.

"Wow." Clarisse said. "You completely disregarded Chiron's rule... Nice."

"Well yes, yes." Dionysus said. "Bravo for Anniebell-"

"Annabeth!"

"-but you forget that I'm the one who gave her all of her hero training."

"What hero training?" Annabeth asked incredulously.

"Well, where do you think you learned how to be so sarcastic? Not Chiron."

Chris shrugged. "That kind of makes sense, I guess."

**"And ****you,"****she told him, "lay off my friend."**

**The gym was in flames. Kids were still running around screaming. I heard sirens wailing and a garbled voice over the intercom. **

"It's the po-po. You gotta go Jackson, GO!" Hermes was dressed in an orange jump-suit and had a wild look in his eyes. "Go before they catch the both of us!"

Artemis shook her head and brought out a notepad. "Hermes, I'm adding you to the list of people that need to go to that mental instiute."

"Okay... Hey!"

**Through the glass windows of the exit doors, I could see the headmaster, Mr. Bonsai, wrestling with the lock, a crowd of teachers piling up behind him.**

**"Annabeth ..." I stammered. "How did you ... how long have you ..."**

**"Pretty much all morning." She sheathed her bronze knife. "I've been trying to find a good time to talk to you, but you were never alone."**

**"The shadow I saw this morning—that was—" My face felt hot. "Oh my gods, you were looking in my bed room window?"**

Laughter erupted from the demigods on the floor.

**"There's no time to explain!" she snapped, though she looked a little red-faced herself. "I just didn't want to—"**

**"There!" a woman screamed. The doors burst open and the adults came pouring in.**

**"Meet me outside," Annabeth told me. "And him." She pointed to Tyson, who was still sitting dazed against the wall. Annabeth gave him a look of distaste that I didn't quite understand. **

Thalia glanced at Annabeth with a questioning look. When Annabeth nodded Thalia frowned.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows. "What's with the look?"

Annabeth sighed. "You'll find out soon."

**"You'd better bring him."**

**"What?"**

**"No time!" she said. "Hurry!"**

**She put on her Yankees baseball cap, which was a magic gift from her mom, and instantly vanished.**

"Oh sure." Percy grumbled. "Easy for you to get away."

In return she smirked at him.

**That left me standing alone in the middle of the burning gymnasium when the headmaster came charging in with half the faculty and a couple of police officers.**

**"Percy Jackson?" Mr. Bonsai said. "What ... how ..."**

"And of course you get blamed." Thalia sighed.

"Don't we all?" Percy asked.

"...Yeah. Yeah we do."

**Over by the broken wall, Tyson groaned and stood up from the pile of cinder blocks. "Head hurts."**

**Matt Sloan was coming around, too. He focused on me with a look of terror. "Percy did it, Mr. Bonsai! He set the whole building on fire. Coach Nunley will tell you! He saw it all!"**

**Coach Nunley had been dutifully reading his magazine, but just my luck—**

Everyone groaned.

**he chose that moment to look up when Sloan said his name. "Eh? Yeah. Mm-hmm."**

**The other adults turned toward me. I knew they would never believe me, even if I could tell them the truth.**

Poseidon sighed.

**I grabbed Riptide out of my ruined jeans, told Tyson, "Come on!" and jumped through the gaping hole in the side of the building.**

Demeter sighed. "Always dramatic..."

* * *

><p><strong>For some reason, I keep on forgetting to put this but... wamakima5004 made this website for Greek gods and godesses. The address is <strong>

**g o . i s h w e b . n l / g r e e k**

**I don't know why it doesn't come up when I type it regularly. If you have any questions about the site you can pm wamakima5004. Until next weekend.**

**Erudite19**


	3. Taxis of Eternal Torment

"Oo! Oo! I want to read next." Hermes said. "Leme! Leme! I didn't get to read last time so it's not fair. Almost everyone else got to read. I'm just as important as-"

"Hermes!" Zeus thundered. "The book's already in your hands and you already changed the page. Stop complaining and read already."

"Right..."

**"We Hail the Taxi of Eternal Torment," **Hermes read.

Poseidon groaned. Taking out his blanket seemed more and more like a better idea with each sentence read.

**Annabeth was waiting for us in an alley down Church Street. **She pulled Tyson and me off the sidewalk just as a fire truck screamed past, heading for Merriwether Prep.****

Connor raised a delicate eyebrow. "That makes you sound creepy Annabeth."

"Yeah," Travis nodded. "You're just waiting in an alley for them and you pull them into the alley with you..."

Annabeth merely regarded them for a second then waited for Hermes to read.

**"Where'd you find **_**him**_**?" she demanded, pointing at Tyson.**

Poseidon knit his eyebrows. "What's that supposed to mean?"

She sighed when almost everyone turned to her with a questioning look. "You'll find out, just keep reading."

**Now, under different circumstances, I would've been really happy to see her. We'd made our peace last summer, despite the fact that her mom was Athena and didn't get along with my dad. **

"Which I find completely impossible." Demeter said. "How do you make peace with your enemies daughter?"

Hades stared at her. "We just read the whole book Demeter. Stop asking rhetorical questions."

"It was rhetorical for a reason!"

**I'd missed Annabeth probably more than I wanted to admit.**

**But I'd just been attacked by cannibal giants, Tyson had saved my life three or four times, and all Annabeth could do was glare at him like _he _was the problem.**

"Which I still don't get." Poseidon chimed in.

**"He's my friend," I told her.**

**"Is he homeless?"**

**"What does that have to do with anything? He can hear you, you know. Why don't you ask him?"**

**She looked surprised. "He can talk?"**

"Wow." Clarisse muttered. "And I thought I was rude."

Annabeth frowned. It wasn't good that she was acting so rude to Tyson but she had a really good reason. She could've been nicer though...

Percy squezeed her hand reassuringly. He didn't want her to feel bad. After all, he'd had some pretty bad thoughts towards Tyson too.

**"I talk," Tyson admitted. "You are pretty."**

Percy smiled at Annabeth and she leaned in closer to him. Then he had another thought. He wondered how Tyson was doing with Ella back in his time. How'd they even get together in the first place?

He didn't know but that didn't really matter because Tyson charmed almost every girl he thought was pretty.

**"Ah! Gross!" Annabeth stepped away from him.**

**I couldn't believe she was being so rude. **

"Neither can I." Poseidon grumbled.

**I examined Tyson's hands, which I was sure must've been badly scorched by the flaming dodge balls, **

"Oh Percy."

**but they looked fine—grimy and scarred, with dirty fingernails the size of potato chips—**

Aphrodite raised a delicate eyebrow. "That's fine?"

Percy shrugged. "For Tyson it is."

**but they always looked like that. "Tyson," I said in disbelief. "Your hands aren't even burned."**

"Percy, Percy..." Nico said.

"It's not like I knew he was a cyclopes yet." Percy said.

Thalia shrugged. "Still, you should know enough about Greek Mythology to know that he was a cyclopes."

Percy raised an eyebrow at her. "Would you have looked at his face if you couldn't even have looked at his teeth for that long?"

"Touche."

**"Of course not," Annabeth muttered. "I'm surprised the Laistrygonians had the guts to attack you with him around."**

"Monsters are too cocky sometimes." Chris said. "I like that about them. That's how they die easily."

Nico nodded in agreement. "They're always going on and on about how they're going to take over the world someday and when they get to the part where they're going to make us their servant our swords and arrows somehow make contact with their heads."

"Don't complain." Jason said. "You actually get some information from their rants."

Percy frowned. "Or you just get a recipe for Cheese n' Weiners."

"What?"

Percy sighed. "Keep reading Hermes."

**Tyson seemed fascinated by Annabeth's blond hair. He tried to touch it, but she smacked his hand away.**

_Smack!_

"Ow! Why'd you do that?" Connor pouted.

"You tried to touch my hair." Annabeth answered. "All because you heard it from a book."

"What's your point?"

**"Annabeth," I said, "what are you talking about? Laistry-what?"**

**"Laistrygonians. The monsters in the gym. They're a race of giant cannibals who live in the far north. **

"Only a race?" Piper asked. "So there are others?"

Thalia remembered her snowball fight with the Hyperboreans. "There are dozens of others."

"Oh joy."

**Odysseus ran into them once, **

Annabeth cocked her head. _Odysseus... sea of monsters...How could she have missed that clue?_

**but I've never seen them as far south as New York before."**

**"Laistry—I can't even say that. What would you call them in English?"**

**She thought about it for a moment. "Canadians," she decided.**

While everyone else chuckled around the room those who knew Frank shook their heads at the joke.

**"Now come on, we have to get out of here."**

**"The police'll be after me."**

**"That's the least of our problems," she said. "Have you been having the dreams?"**

**"The dreams ... about Grover?"**

**Her face turned pale. "Grover? No, what about Grover?"**

**I told her my dream. "Why? What were _you _dreaming about?"**

Aphrodite chuckled mysteriously. "Yes Annabeth. What _have_ you been dreaming about?"

"Uh..."

"If you know what's good for you," Hermes started. "And as Athena's daughter I'm sure you do, you won't answer that question but you won't ignore Aphrodite either."

"Oh shush Hermes." Aphrodite scolded. Then she started laying the charmspeak on pretty strong. "So Annabeth, anything special that you dream about, _anyone_ special. Percy specifically?"

Thalia clamped her hand over Annabeth's mouth the second she opened it to speak.

Athena's eye twitched. "Aphrodite, stop trying to charmspeak my daughter. There's a big disadvantage in that."

Aphrodite looked at Annabeth, then at Athena, at Thalia who was clamping Annabeth's mouth closed, and at Percy who was blushing ferociously. Then she saw Poseidon's gaping mouth and Hades and Zeus recording Poseidon's reaction while Demeter shakes her head and the demigods soak up every bit of this. Then she looked back at Annabeth who's face was flushed and Athena who's glare had gotten worse.

"Fine. Don't answer that question Annabeth. Continue Hermes."

"Aw." The demigods said. They shut up the second Athena sent them a look.

**Her eyes looked stormy, like her mind was racing a million miles an hour.**

"They always look like that." Leo said. "What's the difference?"

Jason thought over this. "It said her mind was racing a million miles an hour. It doesn't do that anymore."

"Yeah." Percy said. Even he had noticed a slight change in the amount of time he'd been there. "Now it races a billion miles an hour."

Annabeth rolled her eyes. However, she was pleased that Percy still noticed the little things about her even though he'd been gone eight months.

**"Camp," she said at last. "Big trouble at camp."**

**"My mom was saying the same thing! But what _kind _of trouble?"**

Nico shook his head. "Percy, she's going to be mysterious with you. Don't expect a good answer."

"...I know." He ignored the slight shake of her head.

**"I don't know exactly. Something's wrong. We have to get there right away. Monsters have been chasing me all the way from Virginia, trying to stop me. **

"Virginia?"

"That's when they started chasing me." Annabeth responded.

**Have you had a lot of attacks?"**

**I shook my head. "None all year ... until today."**

**"None? But how ..." Her eyes drifted to Tyson. "Oh."**

**"What do you mean, 'oh'?"**

**Tyson raised his hand like he was still in class. "Canadians in the gym called Percy something ... Son of the Sea God?"**

"Tyson's very observant." Athena noted.

"Well," Apollo said. "It's kind of hard not to notice a giant cannibal call your best friend a son of the sea god in a battered gymnasium."

He cringed at Athena's glare. "Just saying."

**Annabeth and I exchanged looks.**

"I hate it when you guys do that." Travis said.

At the questioning looks Travis got from the couple he said, "You always know something and when you glance at each other everyone gets worried and when know something bad is going to happen. It gets on my nerves."

Percy shrugged. "It's not our fault you're out of the loop."

**I didn't know how I could explain, but I figured Tyson deserved the truth after almost getting killed.**

**"Big guy," I said, "you ever hear those old stories about the Greek gods? Like Zeus, Poseidon, Athena—"**

Dionysus turned to Percy. "Do you just enjoy saying our names freely like that? Out of the blue? Do you know that names are a powerful thing? I could just say Hera's name and she'd probably pop up in here-"

At the very second a bright glow came from the middle of the room which caused all of the demigods and our dear Oracle to look away. When the glow stopped everyone looked to the middle of the room to see the Queen of the Gods glaring at Dionysus.

"What do you want now Dinoysus? I was busy with something." Hera said.

Dionysus' eyes bugged out. He glanced at the kids on the floor and then back at Hera. If Hera found out why they were here and that they were from the future then Zeus doesn't even know what would happen. While Hera was ranting at him Dionysus sent a pleading look to Hermes.

Hermes, who was sweating by the bucket because he was extremely nervous seemed to understand Dionysus' look. He looked over to the demigods. They were staying as still as they could so Hera couldn't notice them. It was working so far but he knew they couldn't last for long. Their ADHD would act up sooner or later.

What could he do?

Flash Hera out? No, he'd get slapped for that. Flash the demigods out? Hera would figure out everything sooner or later. So Hermes searched his convoluted mind and came up with the most reasonable solution he could think of.

He snapped his fingers and the clothes on the kids changed into the clothes of a mariachi band. Black uniforms embroidered with white trimming and broad white hats. Rachel, Travis, and Connor had guitars. Nico and Leo had violins. Chris, Jason, and Percy had trumpets. Annabeth and Thalia had tambourines and Katie and Clarisse had maracas. Piper was the only one without an instrument. Instead she had a microphone. She paled considerably when she realized she might have to sing.

At that very moment Hera noticed the odly dressed teenagers. They hid under their hats so Hera wouldn't notice them. "Zeus, what are these _mortals_ doing here?"

"Uh... well...I...um-"

"What he means," Apollo cut in. "Is that we were going to punish this mariachi band because they were so horrible and didn't have any talents. They were making our ears bleed."

He elbowed Hermes in the god. Hermes nodded supportively and held a towel to his ear. "Oh sure. Loads of blood. I mean ichor. Pooling on the floor. Yup."

Hera eyed Hermes suspiciously. "Then where's the ichor that you said that pooled on the floor from your ear? And why isn't that towel you're holding up gold with ichor?"

"I cleaned it." Hephaestus said. "With my vacuum. I cleaned the ichor from the floor."

"That still doesn't explain the reason why Hermes' towel isn't gold from ichor."

"I cleaned that with my vacuum too?"

"That still doesn't explain why the rest of you aren't bleeding."

"It only affects my ears." Hermes said. "Because I'm extremely sensitive to sound since I'm on the phone all day?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Hera asked.

"A statement?"

"Anyways." Poseidon interrupted. "We were only here to punish this mariachi band. We didn't want to interrupt you because we knew you had better things to do."

Hera scrutinized Poseidon. Then she turned to the group. "They can't be that bad. Sing!"

Piper swallowed nervously. She had the mike so she was supposed to sing but something caught in her throat.

"Well?" Hera demanded.

Then an idea sparked in Jason's head. A really silly song that he had heard Dakota sing once when he'd drunk too much kool-aid.

"La cucaracha, la cucaracha." Jason sung.

Leo caught on. "La-lalalalala."

Chris, Nico, and the Stoll brothers started to sing. "La cucaracha, la cucaracha. La-lalalalalala."

Since none of them knew the entire song they just kept repeating the line. After hearing them sing for the fourth time Hera told them to stop. She looked at them in disgust and told Zeus. "They really are horrible. What will be their punishment?"

Zeus swallowed nervously. All of the gods were watching him closely. He looked around the room for something to use as a punishment. Hermes' caduceus-no. Athena's owls-too violent. Hephaestus' beard-what? Apollo's teeth- Hephaestus' beard!

"As punishment, I demand that the whole mariachi band should have a beard or a mustache." He ignored the goddess' horrified looks and snapped his fingers. The demigods automatically sprouted facial hair (if they didn't already have any).

Connor touched his face. "Ah! Stubles! It burns!" The other kids wisely didn't touch their hair. Rachel was not the least bit happy with growing facial hair. She and all of the other girls sent death glares to Zeus. Zeus took this lightly-he was used to getting death glares from Hera every day.

"Hera," Demeter questioned. "Shouldn't you be on your way with whatever else you were doing?"

Hades was hiding behind Demeter's throne so Hera wouldn't wee him and question him.

Hera huffed at her but flashed out.

The gods let out a relieved sigh.

"How long are we going to have these?" Percy asked. He scratched his black beard and glanced at Annabeth who was staring disapprovingly at her blonde mustache.

Zeus sighed. "Oh, about five, six. Not too long."

"Five, six what?" Piper asked. "Hours, minutes?"

"Maybe even seven." Zeus mumbled.

"Seven what?" Thalia demanded.

"Days..."

"What?"

"It's not my fault! You try talking to your wife when she gives you the _look_!" Zeus nearly yelled.

Zeus ignored the looks he was being sent. Travis grunted. "Well there's one good thing that came out of this."

"What?"

"Look on the bright side Percy, you can be black beard now."

"Not funny." Percy frowned.

Hermes continued reading. Piper wasn't paying attention though. "Thanks." She whispered to Jason. "For helping me when she asked me to sing. I really didn't know what to do."

Jason smiled, his face slightly flushed. "No problem." They tuned back in to Hermes' voice.

**"Yes," Tyson said.**

"Wait," Leo frowned. "Where were we in this story?"

...

"I think Percy was explaining to Tyson about Western civilization." Athena said.

**"Well ... those gods are still alive. They kind of follow Western Civilization around, **

Nico knit his eyebrows. "You guys sound like stalkers...following Western Civilization around...to every other country... yeah I'll shut up now."

**living in the strongest countries_, _so like now they're in the U.S. And sometimes they have kids with mortals. Kids called half-bloods."**

**"Yes," Tyson said, like he was still waiting for me to get to the point.**

**"Uh, well, Annabeth and I are half-bloods," I said. "We're like ... heroes-in-training. And whenever monsters pick up our scent, they attack us. That's what those giants were in the gym. Monsters."**

**"Yes."**

"Tyson already knows." Poseidon said.

**I stared at him. He didn't seem surprised or confused by what I was telling him, which surprised and confused me.**

"What?"

"Now I'm confused." Thalia said.

**"So ... you believe me?"**

**Tyson nodded. "But you are ... Son of the Sea God?"**

**"Yeah," I admitted. "My dad is Poseidon."**

Poseidon smiled proudly.

**Tyson frowned. _Now_ he looked confused. "But then …"**

**A siren wailed. A police car raced past our alley.**

**"We don't have time for this," Annabeth said. "We'll talk in the taxi."**

**"A taxi all the way to camp?" I said. "You know how much money—"**

**"Trust me."**

**I hesitated. "What about Tyson?"**

**I imagined escorting my giant friend into Camp Half-Blood. If he freaked out on a regular playground with regular bullies, how would he act at a training camp for demigods? On the other hand, the cops would be looking for us.**

"Oh yes," Hermes rolled his eyes. "Such a hard decision."

**"We can't just leave him," I decided. "He'll be in trouble, too."**

**"Yeah." Annabeth looked grim. "We definitely need to take him. Now come on."**

**I didn't like the way she said that, as if Tyson were a big disease we needed to get to the hospital, but I followed her down the alley. Together the three of us sneaked through the side streets of downtown while a huge column of smoke billowed up behind us from my school gymnasium.**

**"Here." Annabeth stopped on the corner of Thomas and Trimble. She fished around in her backpack. **

Artemis sighed. "She _fished_ around in her backpack. _Fished. _She turned to Percy. Do you relate _everything_ to the sea?"

Before Percy could say anything Apollo cut in. "I don't blame him. He's barnacle beard's son remember?"

Poseidon sighed at his nickname and told Hermes to continue.

**"I hope I have one left."**

**She looked even worse than I'd realized at first. ****Her chin was cut. Twigs and grass were tangled in her ponytail, as if she'd slept several nights in the open. The slashes on the hems of her jeans looked suspiciously like claw marks.**

"What were you up to?" Thalia asked.

"It's a long story." Annabeth grimaced.

**"What are you looking for?" I asked.**

**All around us, sirens wailed. I figured it wouldn't be long before more cops cruised by, looking for juvenile delinquent gym-bombers. **

"Wow," Travis mused. "I never thought of that. Juvenile delinquent gym-bombers."

He turned to his brother and they both shared an amused look.

"Why do I not like the looks on your faces." Katie frowned. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing." Connor said. "Nothing at all. Keep reading dad."

**No doubt Matt Sloan had given them a statement by now. He'd probably twisted the story around so that Tyson and I were the bloodthirsty cannibals.**

Clarisse shrugged. "Most likely."

**"Found one. Thank the gods." **

"Why thank you." Apollo said.

**Annabeth pulled out a gold coin that I recognized as a drachma, the currency of Mount Olympus. It had Zeus's likeness stamped on one side and the Empire State Building on the other.**

**"Annabeth," I said, "New York taxi drivers won't take that."**

**"_Stêthi_," she shouted in Ancient Greek. _"Ô hárma diabolês!"_**

Leo furrowed her eyebrows. "Chariot of damnation?"

Poseidon and Athena's face sunk.

**As usual, the moment she spoke in the language of Olympus, I somehow understood it. She'd said: _Stop, Chariot of Damnation!_**

Nico grinned. He loved those old ladies.

**That didn't exactly make me feel real excited about whatever her plan was.**

"Wouldn't make me feel better either." Jason nodded.

**She threw her coin into the street, but instead of clattering on the asphalt, the drachma sank right through and disappeared. **

**For a moment, nothing happened.**

**Then, just where the coin had fallen, the asphalt darkened. It melted into a rectangular pool about the size of a parking space—bubbling red liquid like blood. Then a car erupted from the ooze.**

**It was a taxi, all right, but unlike every other taxi in New York, it wasn't yellow. It was smoky gray. I mean it looked like it was _woven _out of smoke, like you could walk right through it. There were words printed on the door—some thing like GYAR SSIRES—but my dyslexia made it hard for me to decipher what it said.**

"Gray sisters." Hades mumbled. "Your dyslexia is really bad Jackson."

Percy shrugged. "You learn to live with it after a while."

**The passenger window rolled down, and an old woman stuck her head out. She had a mop of grizzled hair covering her eyes, and she spoke in a weird mumbling way, like she'd just had a shot of Novocain.**

"That's kind of cool." Travis said.

Connor grinned. "Imagine taking someone to prom in that taxi."

Travis looked at Katie. "You wouldn't dare." Katie said alarmed.

"Wouldn't I?" Travis smiled.

"Travis Stoll, I swear if you-"

"Kidding, kidding. Keep reading dad."

**"Passage? Passage?"**

**"Three to Camp Half-Blood," Annabeth said. She opened the cab's back door and waved at me to get in, like this was all completely normal.**

**"Ach!" the old woman screeched. "We don't take _his _kind!"**

**She pointed a bony finger at Tyson.**

**What was it? Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?**

"Is that real?" Nico asked. "Pick-on-Big-and-Ugly-Kids Day?"

Everyone turned to Athena. "Don't look at me. Ask Dionysus. I don't know?"

"Don't even _think_ about looking at me." Dionysus muttered from behind his magazine.

**"Extra pay," Annabeth promised. "Three more drachma on arrival."**

**"Done!" the woman screamed.**

Hermes smiled. "Athena. I like the way your daughter works. So much bribery..." He didn't seem to notice the owl repeatedly pecking his head.

**Reluctantly I got in the cab. Tyson squeezed in the middle. Annabeth crawled in last.**

**The interior was also smoky gray, but it felt solid enough. The seat was cracked and lumpy—no different than most taxis. There was no Plexiglas screen separating us from the old lady driving ... Wait a minute. **

Poseidon raised an eyebrow. "One old lady?"

"Wait for it." Percy said.

**There wasn't just one old lady. There were three, all crammed in the front seat, each with stringy hair covering her eyes, bony hands, and a charcoal-colored sackcloth dress.**

Chris choked down the vomit that threatened to spill out. "Wow, attractive."

**The one driving said, "Long Island! Out-of-metro fare bonus! Ha!"**

**She floored the accelerator, and my head slammed against the backrest. A prerecorded voice came on over the speaker: _Hi, this is Ganymede, cup-bearer to Zeus, and when I'm out buying wine for the Lord of the Skies, I always buckle up!_**

Zeus shook his head. "With her driving you all should have dissipated."

Annabeth and Percy shared a look. They almost had.

**I looked down and found a large black chain instead of a seat belt. I decided I wasn't that desperate ... yet.**

Travis frowned. This taxi was sounding less and less cooler by the sentence.

**The cab sped around the corner of West Broadway, and the gray lady sitting in the middle screeched, "Look out! Go left!"**

**"Well, _if _you'd give me the eye, Tempest, I could _see _that!" the driver complained.**

**Wait a minute. _Give her the eye?_**

"Eye?" Jason asked. "So they have one eye?"

When Percy nodded he asked. "Well, why'd you get in there?"

"Not my idea okay?" Percy said. He was aware of Annabeth's stare.

**I didn't have time to ask questions because the driver swerved to avoid an oncoming _delivery _truck, ran over the curb with a jaw-rattling _thump, _and flew into the next block.**

"Wow," Apollo said. "And I thought Ares was horrible at driving."

Zeus frowned. He felt he should protect his cupbearer. "She's not horrible at driving. She's fine. She just doesn't abide by the rules of the mortal world. If you don't like how she drives then you should just get off the sidewalk." Zeus snapped.

Apollo frowned. "So I should stay on the street instead?"

"Never mind. Continue Hermes."

**"Wasp!" the third lady said to the driver. "Give me the girl's coin! I want to bite it."**

**"You bit it last time, Anger!" said the driver, whose name must've been Wasp. "It's my turn!"**

**"Is not!" yelled the one called Anger.**

"They bite coins?" Thalia said incredulously.

Hades shrugged. "Yeah. That's how they determine if the pay is real or not."

"What happens if the coin isn't real?" Rachel asked.

"You should prepare to possibly join the Titans in Tartarus." Hades said.

"Isn't that a refreshing idea?" Piper muttered.

**The middle one, Tempest, screamed, "Red light!"**

**"Brake!" yelled Anger.**

"I thought you said they didn't abide by the law?" Artemis asked Zeus.

"Wait for it..."

**Instead, Wasp floored the accelerator and rode up on the curb, screeching around another corner, and knocking over a newspaper box. She left my stomach somewhere back on Broome Street.**

Nico knit his eyebrows. "Then how are you able to eat?"

"I was being sarcastic Nico." Percy said.

"I don't get it. Did the Laistrygonians somehow come back to life and eat your stomach? Did they find it on Broome street beacause Annabeth performed surgery and took it out because you got sick when Wasp turned the curb?" Nico asked innocently.

"No!" Annabeth said. "Nico where do you come up with these ideas?"

"He gets it from his father." Demeter said.

They glanced at Hades who said, "Maybe his stomach dissipated from his body and when its molecules got out of the taxi they were on Broome street and then it reformed."

"Huh," Nico said. "I never thought about it like that."

Percy stared at the two. "Since when did my stomach become such a big issue?"

"When you left it on Broome street." They both replied.

Thalia sighed exasperatedly. "Too many interruptions in one chapter. Read Hermes."

**"Excuse me," I said. "But ... can you see?"**

**"No!" screamed Wasp from behind the wheel.**

Athena looked alarmed. "Isn't she driving?"

"Yes."

"Oh joy."

**"No!" screamed Tempest from the middle.**

**"Of course!" screamed Anger by the shotgun window.**

**I looked at Annabeth. "They're blind?"**

Piper looked at Percy. "You find out that the one driving can't see and the only thing you can think of saying is 'They're blind'? So the thought of panicking just exits your brain?"

Percy shrugged. "I guess I was used to it by then."

**"Not completely," Annabeth said. "They have an eye."**

**"One eye?"**

**"Yeah."**

**"Each?"**

**"No. One eye total."**

**Next to me, Tyson groaned and grabbed the seat. "Not feeling so good."**

Poseidon grimaced. Tyson might throw up in the taxi. Then Percy would smell like ten year old sewage for over a month and Athena might send owls after him because some of it might end up on Annabeth.

**"Oh, man," I said, because I'd seen Tyson get carsick on school field trips and it was _not _something you wanted to be within fifty feet of. **

"_Fifty feet_?" Hephaeestus repeated.

Aphrodite wrinkled her nose. She agreed whole-heartedly with Percy. She decided that she would never get in a car with a cyclopes in her immortal life.

**"Hang in there, big guy. Anybody got a garbage bag or something?"**

**The three gray ladies were too busy squabbling to pay me any attention. I looked over at Annabeth, who was hanging on for dear life, and I gave her a _why-did-you-do-this-to-me _look.**

"Huh," Nico said. "It seems like the situation is switched with you guys."

"What?"

Thalia seemed to catch on because her ears turned read and she started giggling. Rachel pursed her lips in an attempt to stop laughing. She'd gotten to know Nico too well so she understood exactly what he was talking about. Everyone else except for the deities were clueless. Athena seemed to the point of fainting and was gripping her chair tightly. Poseidon looked like he would burst into a puddle again.

Annabeth cocked her head. "What are you talking about Nico?"

"Do you _really_ want to know?" Nico asked with a smile on her face. Annabeth thought about it for a little and then decided that she didn't want to know. The look on Nico's face scared her a little. "No, no. You don't have to say anything."

Nico smiled. "I'll explain half of it anyways. See, usually the girl is giving the guy the _why-did-you-do-this-to-me _look-I won't say in which case-but in this case _Percy's_ the one giving it to Annabeth. I'm sure you know what case I'm talking about Annabeth."

Annabeth seemed to understand because her face became flushed. Percy still had a look of confusion on his face while Clarisse and Chris-who'd finally realized what Nico ment-stared at the ghost king in shock, then amusement.

"I don't get it." Travis said. Katie pursed her lips. She'd put two and two together and realized what was going on. The only other people who seemed to understand were Piper and Jason. Leo was scratching his head and Connor was staring off into space.

Hermes decided to read before Poseidon _actually_ burst into a pool of water again. The owl that was recently pecking his head had stopped and looked at the Ghost King in shock (he didn't think a kid would ever mention something like that in front of Athena).

**"Hey," she said, "Gray Sisters Taxi is the fastest way to camp."**

**"Then why didn't you take it from Virginia?"**

**"That's outside their service area," she said, like that should be obvious. "They only serve Greater New York and surrounding communities."**

**"We've had famous people in this cab!" Anger exclaimed. "Jason! You remember him?"**

Jason knit his eyebrows. "Um, I'm pretty sure I never took them."

"She probably means the other Jason." Rachel explained.

**"****Don't remind me!" Wasp wailed. "And we didn't have a cab back then, you old bat. That was three thousand years ago!"**

**"Give me the tooth!" Anger tried to grab at Wasp's mouth, **

"Ew."

"They share a tooth?" Leo asked. His voice was an octave higher.

"That's just disgusting on a whole new level." Rachel muttered.

"You weren't there to see it." Annabeth grimaced.

**but Wasp swatted her hand away.**

**"Only if Tempest gives me the eye!"**

**"No!" Tempest screeched. "You had it yesterday!"**

**"But I'm driving, you old hag!"**

**"Excuses! Turn! That was your turn!"**

**Wasp swerved hard onto Delancey Street, squishing me between Tyson and the door. She punched the gas and we shot up the Williamsburg Bridge at seventy miles an hour.**

Nico turned to Percy. "Did you leave something on Delancey Street?"

"No."

"Why not?"

**The three sisters were fighting for real now, slapping each other as Anger tried to grab at Wasp's face and Wasp tried to grab at Tempest's. With their hair flying and their mouths open, screaming at each other, I realized that none of the sisters had any teeth except for Wasp, who had one mossy yellow incisor. Instead of eyes, they just had closed, sunken eyelids, except for Anger, who had one bloodshot green eye that stared at everything hungrily, as if it couldn't get enough of anything it saw.**

"Doesn't that happen to Dionysus every night?" Apollo asked. He was thoroughly soaked with cranberry juice.

"Since when do you use cranberry juice?" Apollo stuttered.

Dionysus shrugged. "I'm not going to soak you with all of my wine. Get over yourself. You're not special enough for that."

"You have to be special enough to get soaked with wine?" Apollo asked incredulously.

"Well," Dionysus scoffed. "You don't think I just go around soaking people with wine do you?"

"Of course not." Apollo rolled his eyes. "Keep reading Hermes." Apollo licked some of the cranberry juice from his fingers.

**Finally Anger, who had the advantage of sight, managed to yank the tooth out of her sister Wasp's mouth. This made Wasp so mad she swerved toward the edge of the Williamsburg Bridge, yelling, "'Ivit back! 'Ivit back!"**

**Tyson groaned and clutched his stomach.**

**"Uh, if anybody's interested," I said, "We're going to die!"**

**"Don't worry," Annabeth told me, sounding pretty worried. "The Gray Sisters know what they're doing. They're really very wise."**

**This was coming from the daughter of Athena, but I wasn't exactly reassured.**

"I wouldn't be either." Connor muttered. "At least, not in that situation."

**We were skimming along the edge of a bridge a hundred and thirty feet above the East River.**

Poseidon shrugged. "At least Percy will be saved." He cringed at the glares sent his way. Especially the one coming from Percy.

**"Yes, wise!" Anger grinned in the rearview mirror, showing off her newly acquired tooth. "We know things!"**

**"Every street in Manhattan!" Wasp bragged, still hitting her sister. "The capital of Nepal!"**

"Yes," Dionysus muttered from behind his Ipad. "Because the capital of Nepal is _so_ important."

**"The location you seek!" Tempest added.**

"What location?" Thalia asked.

"You'll see." Clarisse, surprisingly, muttered.

**Immediately her sisters pummeled her from either side, screaming, "Be quiet! Be quiet! He didn't even ask yet!"**

"Wow," Hephaestus said. "They're really horrible at keeping secrets."

"Tell me about it." Hermes said. "Do you know how much gossip I hear from those two every day?"

"Probably not as much as Aphrodite hears." Apollo said.

"...Yeah."

**"What?" I said. "What location? I'm not seeking any—"**

**"Nothing!" Tempest said. "You're right, boy. It's nothing!"**

**"Tell me."**

**"No!" they all screamed.**

**"The last time we told, it was horrible!" Tempest said.**

Poseidon's face turned sour. "I remember that. It took years to clean that lake after that eye was tossed in it."

"What?"

"Just keep reading."

**"Eye tossed in a lake!" Anger agreed.**

"Oh."

**"Years to find it again!" Wasp moaned. "And speaking of that—give it back!"**

**"No!" yelled Anger.**

**"Eye!" Wasp yelled. "Gimme!"**

**She whacked her sister Anger on the back. There was a sickening _pop _**

Aphrodite grimaced and rubbed her eyes. "If I keep hearing about eyes I think I'm going to faint."

**and something flew out of Anger's face. Anger fumbled for it, trying to catch it, but she only managed to bat it with the back of her hand. The slimy green orb sailed over her shoulder, into the backseat, and straight into my lap.**

"Ew!"

**I jumped so hard, my head hit the ceiling and the eyeball rolled away.**

**"I can't see!" all three sisters yelled.**

**"Give me the eye!" Wasp wailed.**

**"Give her the eye!" Annabeth screamed.**

"Sure," Percy frowned. "Easy for you to say it than to do it."

"Oh, whatever." Annabeth said.

**"I don't have it!" I said.**

**"There, by your foot," Annabeth said. "Don't step on it! Get it!"**

**"I'm not picking that up!"**

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Connor said.

"Why would you do that?" Nico asked. "That sounds _so_ cool! I wish I could do that. Dad can I-"

"No!" Everyone else shouted. Hades didn't even get a chance to answer his son before Hermes started reading again.

**The taxi slammed against the guardrail and skidded along with a horrible grinding noise. The whole car shuddered, billowing gray smoke as if it were about to dissolve from the strain.**

Hephaestus frowned. "You're exhausting the frame. It could catch on fire."

"Why don't you just send me to Tartarus Hephaestus?" Athena said.

"Sorry," Hephaestus said. "Just trying to point out something."

**"Going to be sick!" Tyson warned.**

**"Annabeth," I yelled, "let Tyson use your backpack!"**

**"Are you crazy? **

"Yes."

Percy didn't even try to prove that wrong. "You say that now but what about when my ideas save your lives?"

"He has a point." Nico stated.

"So?" Clarisse said. "He's still crazy... for the most part."

**Get the eye!"**

**Wasp yanked the wheel, and the taxi swerved away from the rail. We hurtled down the bridge toward Brooklyn, going faster than any human taxi. The Gray Sisters screeched and pummeled each other and cried out for their eye.**

"Wow," Connor marveled. "If they had a little brother and his girlfriend broke up with him I'd feel bad for the girl."

"Why?" Travis asked.

"Because," Connor answered. "The Gray Sisters know how to fight. They'd have no trouble beating her up."

"You make a good point." Tarvis said.

**At last I steeled my nerves. I ripped off a chunk of my tie-dyed T-shirt, which was already falling apart from all the burn marks, and used it to pick the eyeball off the floor.**

Aphrodite burried her face into Hephaestus' shirt. She couldn't take hearing about that eyeball anymore.

**"Nice boy!" Anger cried, as if she somehow knew I had her missing peeper. "Give it back!"**

**"Not until you explain," I told her. "What were you talking about, the location I seek?"**

**"No time!" Tempest cried. "Accelerating!"**

**I looked out the window. Sure enough, trees and cars and whole neighborhoods were now zipping by in a gray blur. We were already out of Brooklyn, heading through the middle of Long Island.**

"If they keep accelerating." Athena warned. "You'll just break into a million pieces."

"So I've heard." Percy said.

**"Percy," Annabeth warned, "they can't find our destination without the eye. We'll just keep accelerating until we break into a million pieces."**

"Oh wow." Hades said. "Another copy of owl head."

"_Excuse me?_" Athena and Annabeth asked.

"Nothing." Hades squeked. One owl head was threatening enough.

**"First they have to tell me," I said. "Or I'll open the window and throw the eye into oncoming traffic."**

**"No!" the Gray Sisters wailed. "Too dangerous!"**

**"I'm rolling down the window."**

"Wow," Poseidon said. "That's almost as bad as throwing the eye into a lake."

Percy shrugged. "At least this time you don't have to clean anything."

**"Wait!" the Gray Sisters screamed. "30, 31, 75, 12!" **

_Coordinates, _Poseidon thought. _The Sea of Monsters!... Oh great._

**They belted it out like a quarterback calling a play.**

**"What do you mean?" I said. "That makes no sense!"**

**"30, 31, 75, 12!" Anger wailed. "That's all we can tell you. Now give us the eye! Almost to camp!"**

**We were off the highway now, zipping through the countryside of northern Long Island. I could see Half-Blood Hill ahead of us, with its giant pine tree at the crest—Thalia's tree, which contained the life force or a fallen hero.**

Thalia rolled her eyes. "Here we go again."

**"Percy!" Annabeth said more urgently. "Give them the eye now!"**

**I decided not to argue. I threw the eye into Wasp's lap.**

**The old lady snatched it up, pushed it into her eye socket like somebody putting in a contact lens, and blinked. "Whoa!"**

**She slammed on the brakes. The taxi spun four or five times in a cloud of smoke and squealed to a halt in the middle of the farm road at the base of Half-Blood Hill.**

_Yup._ Travis decided. _Definitely _not_ taking Katie to prom in that taxi. He'd barf on his tuxedo before they'd even get to the first turn._ Maybe he'd change his mind in the future.

**Tyson let loose a huge belch. "Better now."**

**"All right," I told the Gray Sisters. "Now tell me what those numbers mean."**

**"No time!" Annabeth opened her door. "We have to get out _now." _**

****Demeter furrowed her eyebrows. "What's so urgent? What's going on?"

"Just wait." Annabeth said.

**I was about to ask why, when I looked up at Half-Blood Hill and understood.**

**At the crest of the hill was a group of campers. And they were under attack.**

"Oh."

Clarisse grimaced. That was not a fight she liked to remember.

"Who's reading next?" Hermes asked.

* * *

><p><strong>I might be able to update this weekend. If I'm not lazy enough. Review if you feel like it. Happy Thanksgiving.<strong>

**Erudite19**


	4. Bulls and Tree Poisoning

"Everyone's already read." Hephaestus said.

"I'll read next." Thalia volunteered. "Might as well restart the cycle."

**"**Tyson Plays with Fire,"**** Thalia read.

Poseidon sighed. _At least Tyson would be fine. Wait! Does that mean Percy plays with fire too? Oh Hades!_

He ignored the annoyed look he received from Hades.

**Mythologically speaking, if there's anything I hate worse than trios of old ladies, **

"It's bulls." Percy muttered.

Nico frowned. "What's wrong with trios of old ladies?"

"Most of the time they're crazy, they creep me out, or they want to eat me." Percy said.

Nico thought it over. "Oh, you're just talking about the fu-kindly ones and the fates." Nico looked around like something horrible might happen to him at any time. Then he regained his composure. "The Gray Sisters are fine Percy. I take their taxi all the time. If you know how to start a conversation they're actually funny... until they sneak wine into your cup and leave you drunk at a restaurant... you know what? I totally agree with you now."

Zeus looked at Nico incredulously. "They went to a restaurant with you?" Nico nodded. Zeus frowned. _They never took _him_ to a restaurant..._ "They got you drunk?"

Nico shrugged. "I guess I should've known something was up when Ganymede took an extra pouch of wine. I thought she was taking it for herself. Besides, she seemed harmless."

"They _always_ seem harmless at first." Percy muttered.

**it's bulls. **

**Last summer, I fought the Minotaur on top of Half-Blood Hill. This time what I saw up there was even worse: two bulls. And not just regular bulls—bronze ones the size of elephants. And even _that _wasn't bad enough. Naturally they had to breathe fire, too.**

Hephaestus knit his eyebrows. "My bulls? Are those my bulls?"

"I think so." Athena said.

**As soon as we exited the taxi, the Gray Sisters peeled out, heading back to New York, where life was safer. They didn't even wait for their extra three-drachma payment. **

"Oh well." Hermes smiled.

"No, not 'oh, well'." Nico said. "_That's_ why I had to pay three extra drachmas when I first took their taxi."

Annabeth did her best to stifle her laughter. Percy knit his eyebrows. "When'd you have to take their taxi?"

"The week after I accidently shadow traveled to China, I was too tired to get around New York so a certain person told me I could use them." Nico said. By the grimace on his face, Percy could tell that 'a certain person' was Minos' ghost.

"You met another demigod?" Athena asked.

"No, I talked to the dead." Nico answered. His response turned a couple heads.

"Um," Rachel said a little creeped out. "Why don't you keep reading Thalia?"

**They just left us on the side of the road, Annabeth with nothing but her backpack and knife, Tyson and me still in our burned-up tie-dyed gym clothes.**

"Well there's something you don't see every day." Hades said. At the questioning looks he got he said, "Usually there are _three_ hippie children and one vampire slayer not two hippie children."

...

"Maybe you're right Demeter." Artemis told the wheat goddess. Hades pouted at the nods that everyone gave around the room but he smiled broadly when his son beamed at him.

**"Oh, man," said Annabeth, looking at the battle raging on the hill.**

Clarisse grimaced at the reminder.

**What worried me most weren't the bulls themselves. **

Leo knit his eyebrows. "I thought you hated bulls?"

Percy nodded. "I do."

"Whatever it is, it must be pretty bad if it's worrying you." Leo stated.

**Or the ten heroes in full battle armor who were getting their bronze-plated booties whooped. **

Clarisse frowned. "We weren't getting our bronze-plated buts whooped."

Percy raised a delicate eyebrow. "What? Most of us didn't even have any bronze-plating left on our buts."

Zeus scowled. "What's going on? Why are there ten heroes there anyways?" He sighed at the silence he received for an answer. He told Thalia to read but he grimaced when he saw the pained look on her face.

**What worried me was that the bulls were ranging all over the hill, even around the back side of the pine tree. **

"WHAT?" The room automatically exploded with questions from the deities. Everyone else glanced at Thalia tentatively.

"SILENCE!" Zeus roared. He looked at Thalia and his expression was deeply hurt. "Keep reading Thalia."

**That shouldn't have been possible. The camp's magic boundaries didn't allow monsters to cross past Thalia's tree.**

The room became extremely quiet as everyone realized what was happening.

**But the metal bulls were doing it anyway.**

**One of the heroes shouted, "Border patrol, to me!" A girl's voice—gruff and familiar.** **Border patrol? I thought. The camp didn't **_**have **_**a border patrol.**

Zeus' look only got worse.

**"It's Clarisse," Annabeth said. "Come on, we have to help her."**

**Normally, rushing to Clarisse's aid would not have been high on my "to do" list. **

Clarisse shrugged. "The feeling's mutual Jackson."

**She was one of the biggest bullies at camp. The first time we'd met she tried to introduce my head to a toilet.**

Clarisse sighed at the reminder while everyone else tried hard to stifle their laughter.

**She was also a daughter of Ares, and I'd had a very serious disagreement with her father last summer, so now the god of war and all his children basically hated my guts.**

"Wow," Rachel muttered. "You have a lot of enemies Percy. And this is only the second book."

"Half of them aren't even my fault." Percy said.

**Still, she _was _in trouble. Her fellow warriors were scattering, running in panic as the bulls charged. The grass was burning in huge swathes around the pine tree. **

Zeus swallowed hard. _It's okay. The fire is burning _around_ her tree. She's not burning, she's not burning. She's right here._

**One hero screamed and waved his arms as he ran in circles, the horse hair plume on his helmet blazing like a fiery Mohawk. **

"Why doesn't he just take it off?" Apollo asked. He glanced at the kids on the floor who were having giggle fits.

"He's panicking." Poseidon said. "It probably seemed like the smartest thing to do. The most impulsive."

"I wonder if he screams in a deep voice or in a girlish voice." Aphrodite muttered.

"Depends on how scared he was." Dionysus suddenly said. He looked up from his magazine. "If he was just a little freaked out then he screamed an octave higher than his regular voice. If he was extremely freaked out, chances are he screamed in a shriller voice than a girl."

"How do you scream in a shriller voice than a girl?" Hephaestus questioned.

"If you can hit a higher note than Mariah Carey." Hades explained. "Which I find impossible so he must've screamed somewhere along those lines."

Thalia thought about that. She would've paid to see that. You get turned into a pine tree and you miss_ everything._

**Clarisse's own armor was charred. She was fighting with a broken spear shaft, the other end embedded uselessly in the metal joint of one bull's shoulder.**

**I uncapped my ballpoint pen. It shimmered, growing longer and heavier until I held the bronze sword Anaklusmos in my hands. "Tyson, stay here. I don't want you taking any more chances."**

**"No!" Annabeth said. "We need him."**

"Uh..."

**I stared at her. "He's mortal. He got lucky with the dodge balls but he can't—"**

**"Percy, do you know what those are up there? The Colchis bulls, **

"Colchis..." Piper repeated. She glanced at Jason and Leo just in time to see them shudder.

**made by Hephaestus himself. **

Leo raised his eyebrows. Just his luck that Medea-a person he hated with all his heart-made something to fight something his dad invented. They were meant to be enemies from day one.

**We can't fight them without Medea's Sunscreen SPF 50,000. **

"Where would you get it anyway?" Piper asked.

Annabeth thought over it. "I think your cabin has a stash of it. Or you could get it at Amazon."

"The website?" Piper questioned.

"Kind of. I'll explain later." Annabeth said.

Thalia kept reading but Percy stiffened. How'd Annabeth know about the Amazons? Well she _did_ know a lot about Greek mythology and she _was_ the daughter of Athena. Did this mean that she used Amazon a lot or that she'd met the Amazons and they'd ask her to join them? Where was he when all of this was happening? How come she hadn't told him that she'd been offered to join the Amazons? Was he that oblivious that he didn't notice-

He stopped himself. Where was he getting all these thoughts from? She'd probably never even met the Amazons. She just knew about them. Yeah...

**We'll get burned to a crisp."**

Dionysus sniffed. "I would appreciate if you didn't get burned to a crisp."

Everyone looked at him bewildered. "What? I wouldn't want to clean them up."

Everyone either shook their heads or disregarded his comment. Why did they ever think he'd change? Poseidon disregarded Dionysus' comment and told Thalia to read.

**"Medea's **_**what?"**_

**Annabeth rummaged through her backpack and cursed. "I had a jar of tropical coconut scent sitting on my night-stand at home. Why didn't I bring it?"**

Athena and Poseidon frowned. The one time Poseidon depended on Annabeth to save Percy and she'd failed him miserably. _Why _didn't_ she bring it?_

**I'd learned a long time ago not to question Annabeth too much. It just made me more confused. **

Percy smiled sheepishly at Annabeth while she shook her head. The rest of the room erupted into chuckles as Connor and Travis recounted multiple times when they asked Annabeth too many questions and they'd been confused.

"At least I listen to you." Percy said. "And trust that what you tell me is correct."

Annabeth smiled at Percy. "Yeah. At least that."

"I'm telling you Percy," Connor said. "I don't know how you understand Annabeth sometimes. No offense Annabeth but sometimes you make absolutely no sense to me. I just hear a whole bunch of mumbo jumbo-"

"Connor?"

"Yeah Perce?"

"You want to understand what Annabeth is thinking now?"

"Sure."

"She'd like to run you through with her dagger."

"...Oh. Read Thalia."

**"Look, I don't know what you're talking about, but I'm **_**not **_**going to let Tyson get fried."**

"Wow Percy." Clarisse said. "I understand why it took a long time for you and Annabeth to get together now. It makes so much sense."

"It's not my fault." Percy said, then he reconsidered at Athena's look. "Well it is my fault but I still didn't know Tyson was a cyclops."

Nico knit his eyebrows. "But Annabeth was giving off so many clues that he was."

Annabeth sighed. _How many clues had she ever given to Percy for anything? Probably too many to count. But she didn't mind it 'cause it was worth it in the end._

Thalia rolled her eyes. _She wanted to get on with the story already. She knew she was somewhere near the end of this story._ "I think we've established the fact that Percy's completely oblivious when it comes to girls-"

Percy blushed scarlet.

"-so can we please get on with the story?"

**"Percy—"**

**"Tyson, stay back." **

Leo face-palmed. "I thought you listened to her?"

Before Percy could answer Thalia sent him and Leo a look that clearly read, _stop fighting about this already._ Then she continued reading.

**I raised my sword. "I'm going in."**

"Aren't you out of practice?" Jason questioned.

"Yeah." Percy said. Poseidon's eye twitched. So Percy _was_ going to play with fire.

**Tyson tried to protest, but I was already running up the hill toward Clarisse, who was yelling at her patrol, trying to get them into phalanx formation. **

"That's a good idea." Hephaestus said. "But it won't work well. The bulls will break your order."

**It was a good idea. The few who were listening lined up shoulder-to-shoulder, locking their shields to form an ox-hide—and-bronze wall, their spears bristling over the top like porcupine quills.**

"I wonder who came up with that." Katie said.

"Probably some Athena kid." Leo answered. "Read Thalia." He really wanted to know what happened to Thalia's tree.

**Unfortunately, Clarisse could only muster six campers. The other four were still running around with their helmets on fire. **

"_Four _fiery mohawks?" Hephaestus said incredulously while the kids laughed.

"Just be glad Ares isn't here." Aphrodite said. "He'd have a fit and explode."

"It probably seemed like the smartest thing to do at the moment." Poseidon said. "And the most impulsive."

**Annabeth ran toward them, trying to help. She taunted one of the bulls into chasing her, then turned invisible, completely confusing the monster. The other bull charged Clarisse's line.**

**I was halfway up the hill—not close enough to help. **

Chris knit his eyebrows. "I don't get it. Ususally Clarisse would've yelled at you by now Percy. What's so different about now."

"It says it here." Thalia said.

**Clarisse hadn't even seen me yet.**

"Oh."

**The bull moved deadly fast for something so big. Its metal hide gleamed in the sun. It had fist-sized rubies for eyes, and horns of polished silver. When it opened its hinged mouth, a column of white-hot flame blasted out.**

"Whoa," Leo said. "That's a sexy bull." Hephaestus grinned. "Yeah, but it took a long time to make it."

"_Sexy?_" Rachel questioned. "How can a bull be sexy? Do you find it attractive or something?"

"You can't blame him." Connor said. "He _is_ part of the Hephaestus bunch."

"I don't find the bull attractive." Leo explained. "I just mean that it sounds pretty awesome... The Hephaestus bunch? Seriously?"

**"Hold the line!" Clarisse ordered her warriors.**

**Whatever else you could say about Clarisse, she was brave. **

"True." All of the kids who had seen Clarisse in action chorused to her surprise.

**She was a big girl with cruel eyes like her father's. She looked like she was born to wear Greek battle armor, **

Travis sighed in relief. "So I'm _not _the only one that thinks that?" At the nods he got he turned to Connor. "Ha, brother! I'm _not_ the weird."

No one bothered to tell him otherwise.

**but I didn't see how even she could stand against that bull's charge.**

"I just realized something," Nico said. "If the children protecting the border are Ares' children and Ares and Hephaestus aren't on good terms doesn't that mean that the bulls will only hate the border patrollers more? That they'll _really_ want to kill them?"

"Yes." Practically everyone chorused.

"Huh," Clarisse blinked. "I didn't think about that."

**Unfortunately, at that moment, the other bull lost interest in finding Annabeth. It turned, wheeling around behind Clarisse on her unprotected side.**

**"Behind you!" I yelled. "Look out!"**

**I shouldn't have said anything, **

"No," Clarisse agreed. "You shouldn't have."

**because all I did was startle her. Bull Number One crashed into her shield, and the phalanx broke. Clarisse went flying backward and landed in a smoldering patch of grass. The bull charged past her, but not before blasting the other heroes with its fiery breath. Their shields melted right off their arms. **

Hermes whistled. "That had to give them second or third degree burns. Look Apollo, your children will have more work to do."

Apollo smiled. "This means that they don't have to use the practice dummies anymore."

"Why does that not reassure me?" Clarisse frowned.

"You're not the only one." Annabeth looked around at the other frantic looks everyone was sending Apollo.

**They dropped their weapons and ran as Bull Number Two closed in on Clarisse for the kill.**

"That sounds like something you would here on a nature program on Animal Planet." Travis noted.

Connor nodded and cleared his throat. "The male Colchis races at a speed of twenty miles per hour and bares its tusk at the female homo-sapien."

"Wow," Travis said. "That was really good. You should try voicing documentaries fro Animal Planet."

"You think so? I didn't think that I was very convincing."

"Dude, I was falling asleep. You were extremely convincing."

"You do fall asleep when you watch nature documentaries. I guess-"

"Could you guys be quiet so I can finish reading? I'd like to know what happens to my tree. Besides, Clarisse looks like she want so murder you."

**I lunged forward and grabbed Clarisse by the straps of her armor. I dragged her out of the way just as Bull Number Two freight-trained past. **

"Oh," Hephaestus said. "So that's how you're still alive."

**I gave it a good swipe with Riptide and cut a huge gash in its flank, but the monster just creaked and groaned and kept on going.**

"Unstoppable." Leo muttered.

**It hadn't touched me, but I could feel the heat of its metal skin. Its body temperature could've microwaved a frozen burrito.**

**"Let me go!" Clarisse pummelled my hand. "Percy, curse you!"**

Poseidon rolled his eyes. He should've expected this. Percy saves her life then she pummels his hand and curses him.

**I dropped her in a heap next to the pine tree and turned to face the bulls. We were on the inside slope of the hill now, the valley of Camp Half-Blood directly below us—the cabins, the training facilities, the Big House—all of it at risk if these bulls got past us.**

"Like I said when we were reading the last book, why don't you just scare us to Tartarus Jackson?" Zeus rubbed his temples.

**Annabeth shouted orders to the other heroes, telling them to spread out and keep the bulls distracted. **

Athena nodded approvingly at Annabeth.

**Bull Number One ran a wide arc, making its way back toward me. As it passed the middle of the hill, where the invisible boundary line should've kept it out, it slowed down a little, as if it were struggling against a strong wind; but then it broke through and kept coming. **

Zeus couldn't stop the whimpering sound that came from his throat.

**Bull Number Two turned to face me, fire sputtering from the gash I'd cut in its side. I couldn't tell if it felt any pain, but its ruby eyes seemed to glare at me like I'd just made things personal.**

"And yet another mythical creature that hates me." Percy sighed.

**I couldn't fight both bulls at the same time. I'd have to take down Bull Number Two first, cut its head off before Bull Number One charged back into range. My arms already felt tired. I realized how long it had been since I'd worked out with Riptide, how out of practice I was.**

"This doesn't sound good." Demeter said.

**I lunged but Bull Number Two blew flames at me. **

Poseidon face-palmed. _I knew Percy was going to play with fire._

**I rolled aside as the air turned to pure heat. All the oxygen was sucked out of my lungs. My foot caught on some thing—a tree root, maybe—and pain shot up my ankle. Still, I managed to slash with my sword and lop off part of the monster's snout. It galloped away, wild and disoriented. But before I could feel too good about that, I tried to stand, and my left leg buckled underneath me. My ankle was sprained, maybe broken.**

"Oh joy," Poseidon muttered.

**Bull Number One charged straight toward me. No way could I crawl out of its path.**

Poseidon sighed. He was resigned to the fact that Percy would always have pessimist thoughts and he shouldn't take them too seriously. Hades was right. If this continued he _would_ get a coronary.

**Annabeth shouted: "Tyson, help him!"**

"He won't be able to get through." Athena said.

**Somewhere near, toward the crest of the hill, Tyson wailed, "Can't—get—through!"**

**"I, Annabeth Chase, give you permission to enter camp!"**

A gasp erupted from the deities. "Y-you gave a _cyclops_ permission to enter the camp?" Zeus asked.

"It's not like I had a choice." Annabeth replied. "Besides, he was right there and willing to help."

"This mustache itches." Thalia said. She was furiously scratching her mustache. "Of all of the 'punishments' you could give out you give a mustache?"

Katie squirmed as she examined her hairy upper lip. She looked at the Zeus and Poseidon. "How do you two deal with facial any way?"

"I don't know," Leo said. His mustache was especially long. "I don't mind the mustache. It makes me look like a real mariachi. Plus, the outfit completes the look." He glanced down at his 'mariachi' outfit.

"Oh yeah," Hermes said. He snapped his fingers and their clothes turned back to normal.

"Aw." Leo pouted.

Zeus sighed at Thalia. "Stop scratching your mustache. You'll get upper lip balding."

Thalia gave her dad a hard look and then continued reading.

**Thunder shook the hillside. Suddenly Tyson was there, barrelling toward me, yelling: "Percy needs help!"**

Poseidon grinned.

**Before I could tell him no, he dove between me and the bull just as it unleashed a nuclear firestorm.**

**"Tyson!" I yelled.**

**The blast swirled around him like a red tornado. I could only see the black silhouette of his body. **

Leo whistled. "That's a lot of fire." Hephaestus nodded.

**I knew with horrible certainty that my friend had just been turned into a column of ashes.**

**But when the fire died, Tyson was still standing there, completely unharmed. Not even his grungy clothes were scorched. The bull must've been as surprised as I was, because before it could unleash a second blast, Tyson balled his fists and slammed them into the bull's face. "BAD COW!"**

Everyone giggled or cracked a smile.

"Yes," Leo said. "Very bad cow."

Dionysus cringed, afraid that Hera would appear again.

**His fists made a crater where the bronze bull's snout used to be. Two small columns of flame shot out of its ears. Tyson hit it again, and the bronze crumpled under his hands like aluminum foil. The bull's face now looked like a sock puppet pulled inside out.**

Hephaestus grit his teeth. "My bull..."

**"Down!" Tyson yelled.**

**The bull staggered and fell on its back. Its legs moved feebly in the air, steam coming out of its ruined head in odd places.**

Hephaestus' eye twitched while he gaped at the book.

**Annabeth ran over to check on me.** **My ankle felt like it was filled with acid, but she gave me some Olympian nectar to drink from her canteen, and I immediately started to feel better. There was a burning smell that I later learned was me. The hair on my arms had been completely singed off.**

**"The other bull?" I asked.**

**Annabeth pointed down the hill. Clarisse had taken care of Bad Cow Number Two. She'd impaled it through the back leg with a celestial bronze spear. Now, with its snout half gone and a huge gash in its side, it was trying to run in slow motion, going in circles like some kind of merry-go-round animal.**

Zeus breathed a sigh of relief he didn't know he was holding. At least Thalia was safe.

"What'd you guys do with them?" Nico asked Clarisse.

"We gave it to them to the Hephaestus cabin so they could use the metal." Clarisse answered. "Why'd you ask?"

Nico pouted. "I wanted to keep it as a pet."

...

"Why are you guys looking at me like that? Read on Thals."

**Clarisse pulled off her helmet and marched toward us. A strand of her stringy brown hair was smoldering, but she didn't seem to notice. "You—ruin—everything!" she yelled at me. "I had it under control!"**

Several people snorted.

**I was too stunned to answer. Annabeth grumbled, "Good to see you too, Clarisse."**

**"Argh!" Clarisse screamed. "Don't ever, EVER try saving me again!"**

**"Clarisse," Annabeth said, "you've got wounded campers."**

Clarisse frowned. Of course Chase had to pull that up. Now she won't get to finish yelling at Jackson.

**That sobered her up. Even Clarisse cared about the soldiers under her command.**

**"I'll be back," she growled, then trudged off to assess the damage.**

**I stared at Tyson. "You didn't die."**

Thalia sighed. "And now Percy finds out the truth."

**Tyson looked down like he was embarrassed. "I am sorry. Came to help. Disobeyed you."**

**"My fault," Annabeth said. "I had no choice. I had to let Tyson cross the boundary line to save you. Otherwise, you would've died."**

**"Let him cross the boundary line?" I asked. "But—"**

Nico looked thoughtful. "I never knew you could do that."

"Why do I not like the look on your face?" Annabeth grimaced at Nico's smile.

**"Percy," she said, "have you ever looked at Tyson closely? I mean ... in the face. Ignore the Mist, and **_**really **_**look at him."**

**The Mist makes humans see only what their brains can process ... I knew it could fool demigods too, but...** **I looked Tyson in the face. It wasn't easy. I'd always had trouble looking directly at him, **

"So do we." The demigods chorused.

**though I'd never quite understood why. I'd thought it was just because he always had peanut butter in his crooked teeth.**

"Someone's a big eater." Zeus muttered. Poseidon glared at him before tuning back in to Thalia's reading.

**I forced myself to focus at his big lumpy nose, then a little higher at his eyes.**

"Not eyes." Piper muttered.

Percy knit his eyebrows. "You met Tyson."

Piper nodded. "He came to the camp when he found out you were missing."

Jason and Leo nodded.

**No, not **_**eyes.**_

_**One **_**eye. One large, calf-brown eye, right in the middle of his forehead, with thick lashes and big tears trickling down his cheeks on either side.**

**"Tyson," I stammered. "You're a ..."**

**"Cyclops," Annabeth offered. "A baby, **

"Baby?" Travis exclaimed, rubbing his shoulders. He had had many horrible bone breaking hugs from Tyson. "He's only a baby?"

Poseidon nodded. "Only a couple years old."

**by the looks of him. Probably why he couldn't get past the boundary line as easily as the bulls. Tyson's one of the homeless orphans."**

**"One of the what?"**

**"They're in almost all the big cities," Annabeth said distastefully. "They're ... **_**mistakes, **_**Percy.**

Poseidon winced.

**Children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually ****... **

"Wow," Poseidon said sarcastically. "Thanks a lot. Really."

Annabeth blushed._ It's not like there was any other way to describe it._

**and they don't always come out right. No one wants them. They get tossed aside. They grow up wild on the streets. I don't know how this one found you, but he obviously likes you. We should take him to Chiron, let him decide what to do."**

Everyone who had encountered Tantalus winced.

**"But the fire. How—"**

**"He's a Cyclops." Annabeth paused, as if she were remembering something unpleasant. **

Thalia glanced at Annabeth and frowned when she realized what Annabeth was probably remembering.

**"They work the forges of the gods. They **_**have **_**to be immune to fire. That's what I was trying to tell you."**

**I was completely shocked. How had I never realized what Tyson was?**

Nico sighed. "'Cause you're oblivious and the mist is strong."

"Gee, thanks a lot Nico." Percy said sarcastically.

"Your welcome!"

**But I didn't have much time to think about it just then. The whole side of the hill was burning. Wounded heroes needed attention. And there were still two banged-up bronze bulls to dispose of, which I didn't figure would fit in our normal recycling bins.**

"But it isn't a normal camp." Connor said.

**Clarisse came back over and wiped the soot off her forehead. "Jackson, if you can stand, get up. We need to carry the wounded back to the Big House, let Tantalus know what's happened."**

Dionysus dropped his magazine. "_No._ ...Oh this is so _scandalous!"_ The rest of the deities gaped at the book unable to say anything.

"_That_ summer will surely be interesting." Dionysus grinned from ear to ear which creeped out the demigods extremely.

**"Tan****talus?" I asked.**

**"The activities director," Clarisse said impatiently.**

**"Chiron is the activities director. And where's Argus? He's head of security. He should be here."**

Jason, Leo, and Piper shared a look.

**Clarisse made a sour face. "Argus got fired. **

If possible Dionysus' grin got wider. "Hera will have a fit!" It was almost to a shriek now.

**You two have been gone too long. Things are changing."**

**"But Chiron ... He's trained kids to fight monsters for over three thousand years. He can't just be **_**gone. **_**What happened?"**

**"**_**That **_**happened," Clarisse snapped.**

**She pointed to Thalia's tree.**

Thalia winced. She knew what was coming up. Subconsciously, she scratched her beard much to Zeus' disapproval.

**Ever****y camper knew the story behind the tree. **

Thalia sighed aggravated. She sent an annoyed look to Percy. "Yes, _every_ camper knows the story. You don't have to repeat it _all_ the time."

Percy knit his eyebrows. "What do you mean? I'm pretty sure this is the first time I've said your story the entire book."

Thalia thought about that. "Oh right, you weren't here for the first book."

"What?" Percy asked, confused.

"The first book that we read about you-whenever my tree was mentioned you would go off into my story. It happened _way_ too many times and I got aggravated." Thalia sighed. "And I still get aggravated. Don't worry about it. If I'm right about this book you might not even mention it anymore."

Percy shrugged and waited for Thalia to read.

**Six years ago, Grover, Annabeth, and two other demigods named Thalia and Luke **

Everyone winced and grimaced. Some people stealing looks at Thalia from time to time.

**had come to Camp Half-Blood chased by an army of monsters. When they got cornered on top of this hill, Thalia, a daughter of Zeus, had made her last stand here to give her friends time to reach safety. **

Thalia cringed and Jason squeezed her hand to reassure her that it was going to be alright.

**As she was dying, her father, Zeus, took pity on her and changed her into a pine tree.**

Now Zeus cringed.

**Her spirit had reinforced the magic borders of the camp, protecting it from monsters. The pine had been here ever since, strong and healthy.**

"What happened?" Leo asked, his voice barely audible. No one answered so Thalia continued reading.

**But now, its needles were yellow. A huge pile of dead ones littered the base of the tree. In the center of the trunk, three feet from the ground, was a puncture mark the size of a bullet hole, oozing green sap.**

The silence in the room was defeaning.

**A sliver of ice ran through my chest. Now I understood why the camp was in danger. **

Thalia's voice began to sound shaky. She took a deep breath and continued to read.

**The magical borders were failing because Thalia's tree was dying.**

**Someone had poisoned it.**

Thalia closed the book unable to read anymore. They all sat in silence until Zeus said, "That's enough for today. We'll continue reading tomorrow. Everyone else get to work. I will not have so many major gods become mortal."

The kids didn't pay attention to that last comment. Since it was a couple of hours before sunset they decided just to go hang around the palace.

* * *

><p><strong>Review if you feel like it. Three more days until I can update again.<strong>

**Erudite19**


	5. I Get A New Cabin Mate

The next day they all gathered in the throne room again. The air wasn't as tense as it was the day before so Zeus held out the book and said, "Who's reading next?"

"Oo! Oo! It's my turn! I'm after Thalia." Nico said.

"Alright calm down."

* * *

><p>"<strong>I get a new Cabin Mate," <strong>Nico read.

"Lucky," Jason muttered. "At least you get a cabin mate."

Percy shrugged. "You have Thalia. She's just not there sometimes."

Thalia frowned. "Even if I am it's not like I sleep in the Zeus cabin."

**Ever come home and found your room messed up? **

"Yes."

**Like some helpful person (hi, Mom) **

Connor sighed exasperatedly. "I know _exactly_ how you feel. I could go to camp at the beginning of the summer and leave my room in a very organized mess-"

"Organized mess?" Rachel asked.

"Yeah," Connor continued. "And then when I come home my mom wants to be all helpful and turn it into a messed up mess."

"Nice word choice." Annabeth said sarcastically. "Messed up mess... _Really_ nice word choice."

"What? It's not like I could think of anything better. Besides, don't act like you don't come home and your dad hasn't totally messed up your room."

"Touche."

**has tried to "clean" it, and suddenly you can't find anything? **

**And even if nothing is missing, you get that creepy feeling like somebody's been looking through your private stuff and dusting everything with lemon furniture polish?**

"...That's exactly how I feel in the Aphrodite Cabin." Piper said.

Nico raised an eyebrow. "Really? Whenever I pass by there I think it's the place where super models go to die."

Leo perked up. "So I'm not the only one?"

Aphrodite frowned. "Well of course Nico would think that." Annabeth said. "He is the son of Hades. Though, that doesn't explain why Leo thought that. Or why you think that Piper."

Piper shrugged and dismissed her mom's incredulous look. "Read Nico."

**That's kind of the way I felt seeing Camp Half-Blood again.**

**On the surface, things didn't look all that different. **

**The Big House was still there with its blue gabled roof and its wrap around porch. The strawberry fields still baked in the sun. The same white-columned Greek buildings were scattered around the valley—the amphitheater, the combat arena, the dining pavilion overlooking Long Island Sound. And nestled between the woods and the creek were the same cabins—a crazy assortment of twelve buildings, each representing a different Olympian god.**

**But there was an air of danger now. You could tell something was wrong. **

"That's how it feels now." Clarisse said. Luckily, the gods didn't hear her.

**Instead of playing volleyball in the sandpit, counselors and satyrs were stockpiling weapons in the tool shed. Dryads armed with bows and arrows talked nervously at the edge of the woods. The forest looked sickly, the grass in the meadow was pale yellow, and the fire marks on Half-Blood Hill stood out like ugly scars.**

**Somebody had messed with my favorite place in the world, and I was not ... well, a happy camper.**

"None of us were." Travis said. "Even the Ares cabin stopped beating up campers just so we could have soldiers for border patrol."

The gods glanced at each other. This was a big change.

**As we made our way to the Big House, I recognized a lot of kids from last summer. Nobody stopped to talk. **

**Nobody said, "Welcome back."**

Annabeth and Percy glanced at each other and smiled knowingly.

**Some did double takes when they saw Tyson, but most just walked grimly past and carried on with their duties—running messages, toting swords to sharpen on the grinding wheels. The camp felt like a military school. And believe me, I know. I've been kicked out of a couple.**

Several of the gods sent incredulous looks to Percy but he just shrugged it off.

"I don't blame you." Connor said. "Travis and I have been kicked out of a military school before too. But only once. How did you...?"

"You don't want to know." Percy frowned.

"Is that the summer you guys came to camp and your hair was lower than usual?" Katie asked.

When they nodded she said, "You know the entire Demeter cabin was creeped out. We thought you guys had gotten a buzz cut and were going to stop pranking or spring a prank on us. We were paranoid the entire summer."

Connor and Travis shared a look. "Really?"

"Don't even think about it."

**None of that mattered to Tyson. He was absolutely fascinated by everything he saw. "Whasthat!" he gasped.**

**"The stables for pegasi," I said. "The winged horses."**

**"Whasthat!"**

**"Um ... those are the toilets."**

A light chuckle rang out through the room.

**"Whasthat!"**

**"The cabins for the campers. If they don't know who your Olympian parent is, they put you in the Hermes cabin**

Hermes smiled at the fact that his cabin was mentioned but Travis and Connor grimaced. _Too many campers in one cabin._

**that brown one over there—until you're determined. Then, once they know, they put you in your dad or mom's group."**

**He looked at me in awe. "You ... have a **_**cabin?"**_

**"Number three." I pointed to a low gray building made of sea stone.**

Poseidon smiled proudly.

**"You live with friends in the cabin?"**

**"No. No, just me." I didn't feel like explaining. The embarrassing truth: I was the only one who stayed in that cabin because I wasn't supposed to be alive. **

Thalia sighed. "Here we go again."

**The "Big Three" gods—Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades—had made a pact after World War II not to have any more children with mortals. We were more powerful than regular half-bloods. We were too unpredictable. When we got mad we tended to cause problems ... like World War II, for instance. The "Big Three" pact had only been broken twice—**

"At least that's what we thought." Clarisse said looking at Jason.

**once when Zeus sired Thalia, once when Poseidon sired me. Neither of us should've been born.**

"Thanks Percy," Thalia said sarcastically. "You make me feel _so_ much better."

"You're welcome."

**Thalia had gotten herself turned into a pine tree when she was twelve. **

"You say it like I did it on purpose."

"In a way, you did." Percy replied.

"It's not like I knew my dad was ging to turn me into a pine tree."

"Still..."

**Me ... well, I was doing my best not to follow her example. **

Poseidon frowned. "I'm not going to turn you into a pine tree."

Percy sighed in relief.

"More like a star fish or a dolphin."

"Thanks, that totally reassures me."

"No, problem."

**I had nightmares about what Poseidon might turn me into if I were ever on the verge of death— plankton, maybe. Or a floating patch of kelp.**

"And now I know." Percy muttered.

"You had nightmares about it?" Connor asked. "Why would you have nightmares about that?"

"It seemed like it would happen any time."

**When we got to the Big House, we found Chiron in his apartment, listening to his favorite 1960s lounge music while he packed his saddlebags. **

"Oh no." Chris grimaced. "Not Frank Sinatra again."

Percy nodded. "Yup."

**I guess I should mention—Chiron is a centaur. From the waist up he looks like a regular middle-aged guy with curly brown hair and a scraggly beard. From the waist down, he's a white stallion. He can pass for human by compacting his lower half into a magic wheelchair. In fact, he'd passed himself off as my Latin teacher during my sixth-grade year. But most of the time, if the ceilings are high enough, he prefers hanging out in full centaur form.**

**As soon as we saw him, Tyson froze. "Pony!" he cried in total rapture.**

...

Everyone burst out giggling.

**Chiron turned, looking offended. "I beg your pardon?"**

**Annabeth ran up and hugged him. "Chiron, what's happening? You're not ... leaving?" Her voice was shaky. Chiron was like a second father to her.** **Chiron ruffled her hair and gave her a kindly smile. **

Annabeth smiled.

"Chiron's like a second father to all of us." Chris said. The rest of the kids agreed. The male Olympians felt a pang of jealousy at Chiron.

**"Hello, child. And Percy, my goodness. You've grown over the year!"**

**I swallowed. "Clarisse said you were ... you were ..."**

**"Fired." Chiron's eyes glinted with dark humor. "Ah, well, someone had to take the blame. Lord Zeus was most upset. The tree he'd created from the spirit of his daughter, poisoned! Mr. D had to punish someone."**

"Other than himself." Leo muttered.

"What did you say Lloyd?"

"Nothing Mr. D. Nothing."

**"Besides himself, you mean," I growled. Just the thought of the camp director, Mr. D, made me angry.**

Dionysus smiled. "That means I've done a good job."

**"But this is crazy!" Annabeth cried. "Chiron, you couldn't have had anything to do with poisoning Thalia's tree!"**

**"Nevertheless," Chiron sighed, "some in Olympus do not trust me now, under the circumstances."**

**"What circumstances?" I asked.** **Chiron's face darkened. He stuffed a Latin-English dictionary into his saddlebag while the Frank Sinatra music oozed from his boom box.** **Tyson was still staring at Chiron in amazement. He whimpered like he wanted to pat Chiron's flank but was afraid to come closer. "Pony?"**

**Chiron sniffed. "My dear young Cyclops! I am a **_**centaur.**_**"**

Connor and Travis chuckled. "Where was I when Tyson did this?" Travis asked.

"Putting the golden mango in the Aphrodite cabin." Katie smirked as the two boys shivered under Aphrodite and Piper's glare. Piper had heard about the golden mango.

**"Chiron," I said. "What about the tree? What happened?"**

**He shook his head sadly. "The poison used on Thalia's pine is something from the Underworld, Percy. Some venom even I have never seen. It must have come from a monster quite deep in the pits of Tartarus."**

**"Then we know who's responsible. Kro—"**

**"Do not invoke the titan lord's name, Percy. Especially not here, not now."**

The light in the room became dull.

**"But last summer he tried to cause a civil war in Olympus! This **_**has **_**to be his idea. He'd get Luke to do it, that traitor."**

The kids who had been involved in the Titan War flinched.

**"Perhaps," Chiron said. "But I fear I am being held responsible because I did not prevent it and I cannot cure it. The tree has only a few weeks of life left unless ..."**

**"Unless what?" Annabeth asked.**

**"No," Chiron said. "A foolish thought. The whole valley is feeling the shock of the poison. The magical borders are deteriorating. The camp itself is dying. Only one source of magic would be strong enough to reverse the poison, and it was lost centuries ago."**

Zeus flinched and sat up straighter in his seat. _The Golden Fleece!_ Why hadn't he thought of that before? Becuase he was too distraught, that's why. For once he was happy he didn't turn the son of Poseidon into ashes.

**"What **_**is **_**it?" ****I asked. "We'll go find it!"**

"What _is_ it?" Connor asked.

"You were there remember?" Clarisse asked.

"Oh yeah..."

**Chiron closed his saddlebag. He pressed the stop button on his boom box. Then he turned and rested his hand on my shoulder, looking me straight in the eyes. "Percy, you must promise me that you will **_**not **_**act rashly. I told your mother I did not want you to come here at all this summer. It's much too dangerous. But now that you are here, **_**stay **_**here. Train hard. Learn to fight. But do not leave."**

"I suppose you won't listen to him will you?" Poseidon asked Percy.

"Nope."

**"Why?" I asked. "I want to do something! I can't just let the borders fail. The whole camp ****will be—"**

**"Overrun by monsters," Chiron said. "Yes, I fear so. But you must not let yourself be baited into hasty action! This could be a trap of the titan lord. Remember last summer! He almost took your life."**

Poseidon grimaced at the reminder.

**It was true, but still, I wanted to help so badly. I also wanted to make Kronos pay. I mean, you'd think the titan lord would've learned his lesson eons ago when he was over thrown by the gods. You'd think getting chopped into a million pieces and cast into the darkest part of the Underworld would give him a subtle clue that nobody wanted him around. **

"I know. I'm pretty sure I gave him a _very_ subtle clue when I chopped him up." Zeus grumbled.

**But no. Because he was immortal, he was still alive down there in Tartarus—suffering in eternal pain, hungering to return and take revenge on Olympus. **

"You make him sound like some deranged animal." Artemis said.

"That's because he is." Nico frowned.

**He couldn't act on his own, but he was great at twisting the minds of mortals and even gods to do his dirty work.**

**The poisoning **_**had **_**to be his doing. Who else would be so low as to attack Thalia's tree, the only thing left of a hero who'd given her life to save her friends?**

Thalia swallowed hard and grimaced. She knew _exactly_ who else would be so low.

**Annabeth was trying hard not to cry. Chiron brushed a tear from her cheek. "Stay with Percy, child," he told her. "Keep him safe. The prophecy—remember it!"**

**"I—I will."**

Athena frowned. _Oh great._

**"Um ..." I said. "Would this be the super-dangerous prophecy that has me in it, but the gods have forbidden you to tell me about?"**

"Yes."

**Nobody answered. ****"Right," I muttered. "Just checking."**

**"Chiron ..." Annabeth said. "You told me the gods made you immortal only so long as you were needed to train heroes. If they dismiss you from camp—"**

The atmosphere darkened again.

**"Swear you will do your best to keep Percy from danger," he insisted. "Swear upon the River Styx."**

**"I—I swear it upon the River Styx," Annabeth said.**

**Thunder rumbled outside.**

As it did in the throne room.

**"Very well," Chiron said. He seemed to relax just a little. "Perhaps my name will be cleared and I shall return. Until then, I go to visit my wild kinsmen in the Everglades. **

"Woo! Go Party Ponies!"

**It's possible they know of some cure for the poisoned tree that I have forgotten. In any event, I will stay in exile until this matter is resolved ... one way or another."**

**Annabeth stifled a sob. Chiron patted her shoulder awkwardly. "There, now, child. I must entrust your safety to Mr. D **

"No!" The older counselors screamed. "That's a horrible idea!"

"Well!" Dionysus said slightly offended.

**and the new activities director. **

The older counselors exchanged some sour looks.

**We must hope ... well, perhaps they won't destroy the camp quite as quickly as I fear."**

"Isn't he a ray of sunshine?" Rachel muttered.

**"Who is this Tantalus guy, anyway?" I demanded. "Where does he get off taking your job?"**

**A conch horn blew across the valley. I hadn't realized how late it was. It was time for the campers to assemble for dinner.**

**"Go," Chiron said. "You will meet him at the pavilion. I will contact your mother, Percy, and let her know you're safe. No doubt she'll be worried by now. Just remember my warning! You are in grave danger. Do not think for a moment that the titan lord has forgotten you!"**

"Wow," Nico said. "Stay alive, learn how to fight, I'll tell your mom you're here, the camp will be overrun by monsters, I'm leaving, oh and don't forget you're in danger! Isn't that a happy note to send a kid off on?"

"Chiron can be so morbid sometimes." Jason muttered.

"Well he's not exactly Captain Sunshine." Annabeth agreed.

**With that, he clopped out of the apartment and down the hall, Tyson calling after him, "Pony! Don't go!"**

**I realized I'd forgotten to tell Chiron about my dream of Grover. Now it was too late. The best teacher I'd ever had was gone, maybe for good.**

**Tyson started bawling almost as bad as Annabeth. I tried to tell them that things would be okay, but I didn't believe it.**

"Why would you even say that?" Nico asked. "Nothings ever okay with us."

"Yeah," Leo continued. "We're just one messed up Brady Bunch."

"No Leo." Thalia corrected. "That's just you."

"Well."

**The sun was setting behind the dining pavilion as the campers came up from their cabins. We stood in the shadow of a marble column and watched them file in. Annabeth was still pretty shaken up, but she promised she'd talk to us later. Then she went off to join her siblings from the Athena cabin—a dozen boys and girls with blond hair and gray eyes like hers. Annabeth wasn't the oldest, but she'd been at camp more summers than just about anybody. You could tell that by looking at her camp necklace—one bead for every summer, and Annabeth had six. No one questioned her right to lead the line.**

Athena smiled proudly at Annabeth.

**Next came Clarisse, leading the Ares cabin. She had one arm in a sling and a nasty-looking gash on her cheek, but otherwise her encounter with the bronze bulls didn't seem to have fazed her. Someone had taped a piece of paper to her back that said, YOU MOO, GIRL! But nobody in her cabin was bothering to tell her about it.**

Clarisse rolled her eyes as everyone else stifled their laughter.

**After the Ares kids came the Hephaestus cabin—six guys led by Charles Beckendorf, a big fifteen-year-old African American kid. **

A sad smile spread across the older counselor's faces.

**He had hands the size of catchers' mitts and a face that was hard and squinty from looking into a blacksmiths forge all day. He was nice enough once you got to know him, but no one ever called him Charlie or Chuck or Charles. **

**Most just called him Beckendorf. Rumor was he could make anything.**

"Yup." Chris said. Leo listened quietly. He really wanted to hear about his half-sibling. He _was_ sleeping in Beckendorf's bed after all.

**Give him a chunk of metal and he could create a razor-sharp sword or a robotic warrior or a singing birdbath for your grandmother's garden. Whatever you wanted.**

Leo was extremely impressed.

**The other cabins filed in: Demeter, Apollo, Aphrodite, Dionysus. Naiads came up from the canoe lake. **

**Dryads melted out of the trees. From the meadow came a dozen satyrs, who reminded me painfully of Grover.**

**I'd always had a soft spot for the satyrs. When they were at camp, they had to do all kinds of odd jobs for Mr. D, the director, but their most important work was out in the real world. They were the camp's seekers. They went undercover into schools all over the world, looking for potential half-bloods and escorting them back to camp. That's how I'd met Grover. He had been the first one to recognize I was a demigod.**

Jason thought about that. "That's completely different in my camp."

Percy nodded. "Completely."

**After the satyrs filed in to dinner, the Hermes cabin brought up the rear. **

**They were always the biggest cabin. Last summer, it had been led by Luke, **

Another wince from everyone.

**the guy who'd fought with Thalia and Annabeth on top of Half-Blood Hill. For a while, before Poseidon had claimed me, I'd lodged in the Hermes cabin. Luke had befriended me ... and then he'd tried to kill me.**

"Great friend." Jason muttered.

**Now the Hermes cabin was led by Travis and Connor Stoll. **

"Hey look! We were mentioned!" Travis said.

"That is _so_ cool!" Connor grinned.

"I know!"

"I know!"

"I know!"

"I know!"

"Shut up already!"

**They weren't twins, but they looked so much alike it didn't matter. I could never remember which one was older. **

"Which helps a lot in pranks." Connor smiled.

Travis nodded but then cringed when Katie glared at the both of them.

**They were both tall and skinny, with mops of brown hair that hung in their eyes. They wore orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirts untucked over baggy shorts, and they had those elfish features all Hermes's kids had: upturned eyebrows, sarcastic smiles, a gleam in their eyes whenever they looked at you—like they were about to drop a firecracker down your shirt. **

"Now there's an idea..." Travis said.

"Ramone!" Connor agreed.

**I'd always thought it was funny that the god of thieves would have kids with the last name "Stoll," but the only time I mentioned it to Travis and Connor, they both stared at me blankly like they didn't get the joke.**

"I still don't get it."

"Ramone."

**As soon as the last campers had filed in, I led Tyson into the middle of the pavilion. Conversations faltered. Heads turned. "Who invited **_**that?**_**" somebody at the Apollo table murmured.**

**I glared in their direction, but I couldn't figure out who'd spoken.**

**From the head table a familiar voice drawled, "Well, well, if it isn't Peter Johnson. My millennium is complete."**

"Mm." Dionysus mused.

**I gritted my teeth. **_**"Percy Jackson **_**... sir."**

**Mr. D sipped his Diet Coke. "Yes. Well, as you young people say these days: **_**Whatever."**_

**He was wearing his usual leopard-pattern Hawaiian shirt, walking shorts, and tennis shoes with black socks. With his pudgy belly and his blotchy red face,**

Dionysus glared at Percy.

**he looked like a Las Vegas tourist who'd stayed up too late in the casinos. Behind him, a nervous-looking satyr was peeling the skins off grapes and handing them to Mr. D one at a time.**

"You know they're not your slaves Dionysus?" Artemis asked.

"Yes," Dionysus said. "Well, Pan left them to me so I'll take good use of them."

**Mr. D's real name is Dionysus. The god of wine. Zeus appointed him director of Camp Half-Blood to dry out for a hundred years—a punishment for chasing some off-limits wood nymph.**

"It's not like I could help myself."

**Next to him, where Chiron usually sat (or stood, in centaur form), was someone I'd never seen before—a pale, horribly thin man in a threadbare orange prisoner's jump suit. The number over his pocket read 0001. **

Hades' eyes widened and he had to bite his tongue to keep from yelling.

**He had blue shadows under his eyes, dirty fingernails, and badly cut gray hair, like his last haircut had been done with a weed whacker. He stared at me; his eyes made me nervous. He looked ... fractured. Angry and frustrated and hungry all at the same time.**

"Tantalus..."

**"This boy," Dionysus told him, "you need to watch. Poseidon's child, you know."**

Poseidon rolled his eyes.

**"Ah!" the prisoner said. "That one."**

**His tone made it obvious that he and Dionysus had already discussed me at length.**

**"I am Tantalus," the prisoner said, smiling coldly. "On special assignment here until, well, until my Lord Dionysus decides otherwise. And you, Perseus Jackson, **

Percy winced at his full name.

**I **_**do **_**expect you to refrain from causing any more trouble."**

**"Trouble?" I demanded.**

**Dionysus snapped his fingers. A newspaper appeared on the table—the front page of today's **_**New York Post, **_**There was my yearbook picture from Meriwether Prep. It was hard for me to make out the headline, but I had a pretty good guess what it said. Something like: **_**Thirteen-Year-Old Lunatic Torches Gymnasium.**_

**"Yes, trouble," Tantalus said with satisfaction. "You caused plenty of it last summer, I understand."**

**I was too mad to speak. Like it was **_**my **_**fault the gods had almost gotten into a civil war?**

"Well..."

"Quiet Zeus."

"I'm just trying to state a point Poseidon."

"Well it's wrong."

**A satyr inched forward nervously and set a plate of barbecue in front of Tantalus. The new activities director licked his lips. He looked at his empty goblet and said, "Root beer. Barq's special stock. 1967."**

**The glass filled itself with foamy soda. Tantalus stretched out his hand hesitantly, as if he were afraid the goblet was hot.**

Dionysus grinned. "Oh, this should be wonderful."

**"Go on, then, old fellow," Dionysus said, a strange sparkle in his eyes. "Perhaps now it will work."**

**Tantalus grabbed for the glass, but it scooted away before he could touch it. A few drops of root beer spilled, and Tantalus tried to dab them up with his fingers, but the drops rolled away like quicksilver before he could touch them. He growled and turned toward the plate of barbecue. He picked up a fork and tried to stab a piece of brisket, but the plate skittered down the table and flew off the end, straight into the coals of the brazier.**

"Wow," Piper muttered. "The barbecue committed suicide."

Dionysus grinned broadly and chuckled.

**"Blast!" Tantalus muttered.**

**"Ah, well," Dionysus said, his voice dripping with false sympathy. "Perhaps a few more days. Believe me, old chap, working at this camp will be torture enough. I'm sure your old curse will fade eventually."**

Connor grinned. "It never did."

**"Eventually," muttered Tantalus, staring at Dionysus's Diet Coke. "Do you have any idea how dry one's throat gets after three thousand years?"**

**"You're that spirit from the Fields of Punishment," I said. "The one who stands in the lake with the fruit tree hanging over you, but you can't eat or drink."**

Athena looked slightly impressed.

**Tantalus sneered at me. "A real scholar, aren't you, boy?"**

**"You must've done something really horrible when you were alive," I said, mildly impressed. "What was it?"**

**Tantalus's eyes narrowed. Behind him, the satyrs were shaking their heads vigorously, trying to warn me.**

**"I'll be watching you, Percy Jackson," Tantalus said. "I don't want any problems at my camp."**

Dionysus raised a delicate eyebrow.

**"**_**Your **_**camp has problems already ... sir."**

**"Oh, go sit down, Johnson," Dionysus sighed. "I believe that table over there is yours—the one where no one else ever wants to sit."**

**My face was burning, but I knew better than to talk back. Dionysus was an overgrown brat, **

Dionsysus glared at Percy again.

**but he was an immortal, super powerful overgrown brat. **

"Mm." Dionysus said. "Though I don't fully agree with that explanation."

**I said, "Come on, Tyson."**

**"Oh, no," Tantalus said. "The monster stays here. We must decide what to do with it."**

_**"Him," **_**I snapped. "His name is Tyson."**

**The new activities director raised an eyebrow.**

**"Tyson saved the camp," I insisted. "He pounded those bronze bulls. Otherwise they would've burned down this whole place."**

**"Yes," Tantalus sighed, "and **_**what **_**a pity that would've been."**

**Dionysus snickered.**

Dionysus winced at the glares he received.

**"Leave us," Tantalus ordered, "while we decide this creature's fate."**

**Tyson looked at me with fear in his one big eye, but I knew I couldn't disobey a direct order from the camp directors. Not openly, anyway.**

"I like the way you think Jackson." Connor smirked.

**"I'll be right over here, big guy," I promised. "Don't worry. We'll find you a good place to sleep tonight."**

**Tyson nodded. "I believe you. You are my friend."**

**Which made me feel a whole lot guiltier.**

Percy winced.

**I trudged over to the Poseidon table and slumped onto the bench. A wood nymph brought me a plate of Olympian olive-and-pepperoni pizza, but I wasn't hungry. I'd been almost killed twice today. I'd managed to end my school year with a complete disaster. Camp Half-Blood was in serious trouble and Chiron had told me not to do anything about it.**

"You're just like Chiron." Nico noted. "So morbid, so depressing."

"You of all people shouldn't be talking Nico." Percy said.

**I didn't feel very thankful, but I took my dinner, as was customary, up to the bronze brazier and scraped part of it into the flames.**

**"Poseidon," I murmured, "accept my offering."**

_**And send me some help while you're at it, **_**I prayed silently. **_**Please.**_

**The smoke from the burning pizza changed into some thing fragrant—the smell of a clean sea breeze with wild-flowers mixed in—but I had no idea if that meant my father was really listening.**

"It does."

**I went back to my seat. I didn't think things could get much worse. But then Tantalus had one of the satyrs blow the conch horn to get our attention for announcements.**

**"Yes, well," Tantalus said, once the talking had died down. "Another fine meal! Or so I am told." As he spoke, he inched his hand toward his refilled dinner plate, as if maybe the food wouldn't notice what he was doing, but it did. It shot away down the table as soon as he got within six inches.**

**"And here on my first day of authority," he continued, "I'd like to say what a pleasant form of punishment it is to be here. Over the course of the summer, I hope to torture, **

The gods stiffened.

**er, interact with each and every one of you children. You all look good enough to eat."**

**Dionysus clapped politely, **

The wine god almost died with all of the glares he received.

**leading to some halfhearted applause from the satyrs. Tyson was still standing at the head table, looking uncomfortable, but every time he tried to scoot out of the limelight, Tantalus pulled him back.**

**"And now some changes!" Tantalus gave the campers a crooked smile. "We are reinstituting the chariot races!"**

"What?"

"Is he insane? Don't answer that."

"We can't put back the chariot races!"

"That was a horrible idea in the first place!"

"Unacceptable!"

"SILENCE! Read Nico."

**Murmuring broke out at all the tables—excitement, fear, disbelief.**

**"Now I know," Tantalus continued, raising his voice, "that these races were discontinued some years ago due to, ah, technical problems."**

**"Three deaths and twenty-six mutilations," someone at the Apollo table called.**

Apollo nodded.

**"Yes, yes!" Tantalus said. "But I know that you will all join me in welcoming the return of this camp tradition. Golden laurels will go to the winning charioteers each month. Teams may register in the morning! The first race will be held in three days time. We will release you from most of your regular activities to prepare your chariots and choose your horses. Oh, and did I mention, the victorious team's cabin will have no chores for the month in which they win?"**

**An explosion of excited conversation—no KP for a whole month? No stable cleaning? Was he serious?**

**Then the last person I expected to object did so.**

**"But, sir!" Clarisse said. **

The gods gasped along with the demigods that weren't there at the time.

"Yeah, yeah... It's not a big deal. Read Di Angelo." Clarisse ignored the surprised looks.

**She looked nervous, but she stood up to speak from the Ares table. Some of the campers snickered when they saw the YOU MOO, GIRL! sign on her back. "What about patrol duty? **

A look of understanding came over the gods and the demigods that weren't there.

**I mean, if we drop every thing to ready our chariots—"**

**"Ah, the hero of the day," Tantalus exclaimed. "Brave Clarisse, who single-handedly bested the bronze bulls!"**

**Clarisse blinked, then blushed. "Um, I didn't—"**

**"And modest, too." Tantalus grinned. "Not to worry, my dear! This is a summer camp. We are here to enjoy our selves, yes?"**

**"But the tree—"**

Thalia looked at Clarisse in respect. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it."

**"And now," Tantalus said, as several of Clarisse's cabin mates pulled her back into her seat, "before we proceed to the campfire and sing-along, one slight housekeeping issue. Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase have seen fit, for some reason, to bring **_**this **_**here." Tantalus waved a hand toward Tyson.**

Poseidon set his jaw.

**Uneasy murmuring spread among the campers. A lot of sideways looks at me. I wanted to kill Tantalus.**

"Now if he wasn't already dead..." Katie said.

"That's about the only thing I agree with you Jackson." Clarisse said. "... Let's not ever agree on something ever again unless it's important."

"Agreed."

**"Now, of course," he said, "Cyclopes have a reputation for being bloodthirsty monsters with a very small brain capacity. Under normal circumstances, I would release this beast into the woods and have you hunt it down with torches and pointed sticks. **

Poseidon gripped his trident.

**But who knows? Perhaps this Cyclops is not as horrible as most of its brethren. Until it proves worthy of destruction, we need a place to keep it! I've thought about the stables, but that will make the horses nervous. Hermes's cabin, possibly?"**

Hermes grimaced. His cabin probably couldn't hold another camper let alone a cyclops.

**Silence at the Hermes table. Travis and Connor Stoll developed a sudden interest in the tablecloth. I couldn't blame them. The Hermes cabin was always full to bursting. There was no way they could take in a six-foot-three Cyclops.**

**"Come now," Tantalus chided. "The monster may be able to do some menial chores. Any suggestions as to where such a beast should be kenneled?"**

Poseidon's anger flared.

**Suddenly everybody gasped.**

**Tantalus scooted away from Tyson in surprise. All I could do was stare in disbelief at the brilliant green light that was about to change my life—a dazzling holographic image that had appeared above Tyson's head.**

**With a sickening twist in my stomach, I remembered what Annabeth had said about Cyclopes, **_**They're the children of nature spirits and gods ... Well, one god in particular, usually …**_

"You could have warned me more about that." Percy whispered to Annabeth.

"I thought that was a pretty descent warning." Annabeth countered. "It's not really my fault you didn't understand."

Percy sighed. "You're so complicated."

"And you're too simple."

"Oh, you know you love me."

"Whatever makes you sleep better at night Percy." Annabeth said. But when he turned away she smiled broadly.

**Swirling over Tyson was a glowing green trident—the same symbol that had appeared above me the day Poseidon had claimed me as his son.**

**There was a moment of awed silence.**

**Being claimed was a rare event. Some campers waited in vain for it their whole lives. When I'd been claimed by Poseidon last summer, everyone had reverently knelt. **

**But now, they followed Tantalus's lead, and Tantalus roared with laughter. "Well! I think we know where to put the beast now. By the gods, I can see the family resemblance!"**

Silence took over the room. There was literally steam coming out of Poseidon's ears.

**Everybody laughed except Annabeth and a few of my other friends.**

**Tyson didn't seem to notice. He was too mystified, trying to swat the glowing trident that was now fading over his head. He was too innocent to understand how much they were making fun of him, how cruel people were.**

**But I got it.**

**I had a new cabin mate. I had a monster for a half-brother.**

"That's not so bad." Thalia said. "In a way."

"Yeah... well," Percy said. "That's not what I thought at first."

Nico held out the book. "Who's reading next?"

* * *

><p><strong>Review if you feel like it. If I can I'll post another chapter this weekend.<strong>

**Erudite19**


	6. Demon Pidgeons Attack

"I'll read." Annabeth said. Nico handed her the book and she changed it to the right page.

**"Demon Pigeons Attack," **Annabeth read.

**The next few days were torture, just like Tantalus wanted.**

Dionysus tried desperately to cover his grin while everyone else frowned.

**First there was Tyson moving into the Poseidon cabin, giggling to himself every fifteen seconds and saying, "Percy is my brother?" like he'd just won the lottery.**

Some people smiled at Tyson's behavior.

**"Aw, Tyson," I'd say. "It's not that simple."**

**But there was no explaining it to him. He was in heaven. And me ... as much as I liked the big guy, I couldn't help feeling embarrassed. Ashamed. There, I said it.**

Percy winced and looked down. Everyone looked away from him and Annabeth continued reading.

**My father, the all-powerful Poseidon, had gotten moony-eyed for some nature spirit, **

Poseidon pouted.

**and Tyson had been the result. I mean, I'd read the myths about Cyclopes. I even remembered that they were often Poseidon's children. But I'd never really processed that this made them my ... family. Until I had Tyson living with me in the next bunk.**

Nico sighed. "Alas, it's not over until the skinny lady eats the cookie."

"Yeah," Percy nodded. "But Tantalus didn't get to eat, remember? His curse."

"Oh yeah." Nico said.

Clarisse smirked. "Did you two just call Tantalus a girl?"

"Well he could've been." Connor said. "With his squeky and winey voice."

Chris nodded. "He wines more than Clovis does when you try to wake him up."

Jason and Annabeth shared a momentary look. "Who's Clovis?" Nico asked.

"The son of Hypnos." Rachel said. "Sleeps twenty-four seven. I've never really seen him walk around camp other than to eat or go to the bathroom."

"In his Roman form he would probably go running around and curse any one who fell asleep on the job." Jason said.

"But why would the god of sleep do that?" Thalia asked. They all looked at Nico.

"Because he got bored of sleeping by the time Greece fell? He was too hyped up with the war between the Greeks and Romans to sleep and then stayed awake after Greece fell?" Nico said. "I don't know everything, you know..."

**And then there were the comments from the other campers. Suddenly, I wasn't Percy Jackson, the cool guy who'd retrieved Zeus's lightning bolt last summer.**

**Now I was Percy Jackson, the poor schmuck with the ugly monster for a brother.**

**"He's not my **_**real **_**brother!" **

Percy hung his head in shame. "Don't feel so bad Percy." Nico said. "I wouldn't be that accepting if _I_ had a cyclopes for a brother." Nico said. "I mean sure it'd be cool and everything and he could give me rides on the back and make me cool sculptures and we could get all my money that the Stolls stole from me-" The two brothers grinned. "-oh, and we'd-"

"Wait to make him feel better Nico." Thalia deadpanned. "Really, you're doing a great job."

If anything Percy looked more depressed than usual. "Sorry."

**I protested whenever Tyson wasn't around. "He's more like a half-brother on the monstrous side of the family.**

Poseidon winced.

**Like ... a half-brother twice removed, or something."**

**Nobody bought it.**

**I admit—I was angry at my dad. I felt like being his son was now a joke.**

**Annabeth tried to make me feel better. She suggested we team up for the chariot race to take our minds off our problems. **

**Don't get me wrong—we both hated Tantalus and we were worried sick about camp—but we didn't know what to do about it. Until we could come up with some brilliant plan to save Thalia's tree, we figured we might as well go along with the races. **

**After all, Annabeth's mom, Athena, had invented the chariot, and my dad had created horses. Together we would **_**own **_**that track.**

"And so," Nico said in a perfect imitation of the Godfather. "The ego develops and blossoms into something greater."

Percy stared at Nico for a while and then glanced at Annabeth who shook her head before reading.

**One morning Annabeth and I were sitting by the canoe lake sketching chariot designs when some jokers from Aphrodite's cabin walked by and asked me if I needed to borrow some eyeliner for my eye ... "Oh sorry, **_**eyes."**_

Piper frowned. She wouldn't be surprised if Drew were one of the jokers.

**As they walked away laughing, Annabeth grumbled, "Just ignore them, Percy. It isn't your fault you have a monster for a brother."**

"Wow," Annabeth thought over what she had just said. "I never realized how mean that sounded. Sorry."

Percy sighed. "Don't worry about it."

**"He's **_**not **_**my brother!" I snapped. "And he's not a monster, either!"**

"And there goes the breaking point." Thalia muttered.

Percy opened his mouth to tell Annabeth sorry but she mouthed, _It's okay._ and continued reading.

**Annabeth raised her eyebrows. "Hey, don't get mad at me! And technically, he **_**is **_**a monster."**

**"Well **_**you **_**gave him permission to enter the camp."**

"Oh!"

"Why would you say that Percy?" Travis shook his head.

"You're just going to make everything worse." Leo nodded.

"Tell that to my past self." Percy said stealing a side glance at Annabeth.

**"Because it was the only way to save your life! I mean ... I'm sorry, Percy, I didn't expect Poseidon to **_**claim **_**him. Cyclopes are the most deceitful, treacherous—"**

Poseidon narrowed his eyes.

**"He is not! What have you got against Cyclopes, any-way?"**

Thalia and Annabeth stiffened.

**Annabeth's ears turned pink. I got the feeling there was something she wasn't telling me—something bad.**

**"Just forget it," she said. "Now, the axle for this chariot—"**

**"You're treating him like he's this horrible thing," I said. "He saved my life."**

**Annabeth threw down her pencil and stood. "Then maybe you should design a chariot with **_**him.**_**"**

**"Maybe I should."**

**"Fine!"**

**"Fine!"**

**She stormed off and left me feeling even worse than before.**

"Wow." Leo marveled. "Your whole relationship is like a spanish soap opera."

"Leo-" Piper started.

"No," He interrupted. "I'm serious. When I was little I used to watch spanish soap operas when I would get bored and your relationship is exactly like that."

"Mm." Nico mused. Then in his imitation of the Godfather he said, "I get where you're going with this, really. It's like fire and water, back and forth, past and present, life and death-"

"Like I was saying," Leo cut in. "Exactly like a soap opera. All you need is a house in the country, a horse ranch, a knife hidden in a drawer, a sappy love letter, and horrible, horrible singing."

"Wow," Thalia muttered. "You must watch a _lot_ of soap operas Leo."

"That says a lot about a guy." Everyone jumped and turned around.

Aphrodite and Hephaestus stiffened.

"Ares." Zeus said after a slight silence. "You're back."

"You only sent me there for a day remember?" Ares said. He looked heart broken and tired. His clothes were slightly torn and worn out.

"Well, yes." Zeus said. "But I expected you to be back this morning."

"I got held back by a couple of spirits." He opened his jacket and a stray spirit flew out. When it tried to make a run to the window Hades opened his hands and it flew into his clothes and embroidered itself in it.

Percy winced. Looks like you didn't have to do much to be embroidered into Hades' clothes. Then he surveyed the scene and gapped when he finally noticed Aphrodite in Hephaestus' arms.

...

You get switched to a different camp by an evil Queen and you miss _everything!_

Ares sat down and Annabeth continued reading.

**The next couple of days, I tried to keep my mind off my problems.**

**Silena Beauregard, one of the nicer girls from Aphrodite's cabin, **

Almost all of the demigods tried to hide the looks in their faces while Aphrodite smiled at the mention of her daughter.

**gave me my first riding lesson on a pegasus. She explained that there was only one immortal winged horse named Pegasus, who still wandered free somewhere in the skies, but over the eons he'd sired a lot of children, none quite so fast or heroic, but all named after the first and greatest.**

**Being the son of the sea god, I never liked going into the air. **

Zeus grinned sickly.

**My dad had this rivalry with Zeus, so I tried to stay out of the lord of the sky's domain as much as possible. ****But riding a winged horse felt different. It didn't make me nearly as nervous as being in an airplane. Maybe that was because my dad had created horses out of sea foam, so the pegasi were sort of ... neutral territory.**

Zeus huffed. "Neutral territory my immortal butt..."

**I could understand their thoughts. I wasn't surprised when my pegasus went galloping over the treetops or chased a flock of seagulls into a cloud.**

"That's _so_ cool." Leo said amazed. "Can you like, command them into this giant and powerful army and attack people from the air with horse poop?"

"... I think Nico's getting to you Leo." Percy said.

Connor sighed. "Everyday, thousands of people are infected with Nico-itis. I'm afraid it's much too late for Leo."

"Nico-itis?" Nico asked. "AWESOME! I have my own disease!"

Hades sniffed. "I'm s-so proud of you son. Really!"

"Does anyone else think that this is weird?" Hephaestus asked. "Cause I can't be the only one that thinks so."

"I don't think it's weird." Apollo sniffed.

Demeter sighed. "It'd be best if you just ignored them and continued reading."

**The problem was that Tyson wanted to ride the "chicken ponies," **

A light chuckle echoed through the throne room.

**too, but the pegasi got skittish whenever he approached. I told them telepathically that Tyson wouldn't hurt them, but they didn't seem to believe me. That made Tyson cry.**

Poseidon sighed.

**The only person at camp who had **_**no **_**problem with Tyson was Beckendorf from the Hephaestus cabin. The blacksmith god had always worked with Cyclopes in his forges, so Beckendorf took Tyson down to the armory to teach him metalworking. He said he'd have Tyson crafting magic items like a master in no time.**

Poseidon smiled and sent a thankful look to Hephaestus.

**After lunch, I worked out in the arena with Apollo's cabin. Swordplay had always been my strength. People said I was better at it than any camper in the last hundred years, except maybe Luke. ****People always compared me to Luke.**

**I thrashed the Apollo guys easily.**

Apollo pouted.

**I should've been testing myself against the Ares and Athena cabins, since they had the best sword fighters, but I didn't get along with Clarisse and her siblings, and after my argument with Annabeth, I just didn't want to see her.**

Annabeth rolled her eyes.

**I went to archery class, even though I was terrible at it, **

Apollo beamed now.

**and it wasn't the same without Chiron teaching. In arts and crafts, I started a marble bust of Poseidon, ****but it started looking like Sylvester Stallone, so I ditched it. **

Poseidon's smile faded when everyone started to laugh at him.

**I scaled the climbing wall in full lava-and-earthquake mode.**

**And in the evenings, I did border patrol. Even though Tantalus had insisted we forget trying to protect the camp, some of the campers had quietly kept it up, working out a schedule during our free times.**

Thalia nodded in respect to the other demigods.

**I sat at the top of Half-Blood Hill and watched the dryads come and go, ****singing to the dying pine tree. Satyrs brought their reed pipes and played nature magic songs, and for a while the pine needles seemed to get fuller. The flowers on the hill smelled a little sweeter and the grass looked greener. But as soon as the music stopped, the sickness crept back into the air. The whole hill seemed to be infected, dying from the poison that had sunk into the tree's roots. The longer I sat there, the angrier I got.**

Thalia grimaced. Despite being a tree she remembered how that felt. Feeling sick and then fine over and over again. Like a never ending cycle. Zeus gripped his chair. _It's going to be okay._ He thought to himself. _She's here right now. She'll be fine._

**Luke had done this. **

The tension in the air increased.

**I remembered his sly smile, the dragon-claw scar across his face. He'd pretended to be my friend, and the whole time he'd been Kronos's number-one servant.**

**I opened the palm of my hand. The scar Luke had given me last summer was fading, but I could still see it—a white asterisk-shaped wound where his pit scorpion had stung me.**

Percy winced and absent-mindedly rubbed the spot where the scar had faded years ago.

**I thought about what Luke had told me right before he'd tried to kill me: **_**Good-bye, Percy. There is a new Golden Age coming. You won't be part of it.**_

**At night, I had more dreams of Grover. Sometimes, I just heard snatches of his voice. Once, I heard him say: **_**It's here. **_**Another time: **_**He likes sheep.**_

**I thought about telling Annabeth about my dreams, but I would've felt stupid. I mean, **_**He likes sheep? **_**She would've thought I was crazy.**

"I still think you're crazy." Annabeth said. "So it really wouldn't have changed much."

Percy frowned at her. "So you're interested in crazy men? 'Cause if you get moony-eyed over Nico I'm going to have to-"

To interrupt him Annabeth kept reading.

**The night before the race, Tyson and I finished our chariot. It was wicked cool. Tyson had made the metal parts in the armory's forges. I'd sanded the wood and put the carriage together. ****It was blue and white, with wave designs on the sides and a trident painted on the front. **

Poseidon grinned. "We are _so_ going to pown the other chariots!"

Ares rolled his eyes, glad to have something to distract him from Aphrodite and Hephaestus. "Yeah right, Clarisse is definitely going to own you all."

Apollo scoffed. "Wait until my cabin gets out there. We'll blind you and leave you squinting in the dust."

"No." Hermes said. "My cabin will obviously win because we're the fastest. Wait until we get out there. I don't doubt Connor and Travis will have hundreds of tricks up their sleeves."

"Oh sure." Travis grinned. Then he remembered how they had crashed and frowned.

Hermes beamed at Travis and Connor. "No doubt they'll win."

Clarisse, Katie, and Annabeth sent innocent smiles to Travis and Connor.

**After all that work, it seemed only fair that Tyson would ride shotgun with me, though I knew the horses wouldn't like it, and Tyson's extra weight would slow us down.**

**As we were turning in for bed, Tyson said, "You are mad?"**

**I realized I'd been scowling. **

**"Nah. I'm not mad."**

"You're a horrible liar Percy."

"Thanks Hermes."

"No problem. Just thought you should know."

**He lay down in his bunk and was quiet in the dark. His body was way too long for his bed. When he pulled up the covers, his feet stuck out the bottom. "I am a monster."**

**"Don't say that."**

**"It is okay. I will be a **_**good **_**monster. Then you will not have to be mad."**

**I didn't know what to say. I stared at the ceiling and felt like I was dying slowly, right along with Thalia's tree.**

Thalia sighed. "Are you going to mention me in every paragraph?"

"It's not like I can control my thoughts." Percy said.

Nico shrugged. "I don't blame him. I mean, you _were_ dying."

"Wouldn't the world just be so messed up if Thalia Grace died?" Jason said. Thalia winced at her last name.

"Well it wouldn't be that messed up." Thalia said. "I mean-"

Leo sighed. "She's just being modest. Zeus would start a civil war, the gods would have to choose sides over nothing because you wouldn't really know who killed her tree and even if you did you wouldn't have access to him, the demigods would have to choose sides also, the world would be corrupt because then the real enemy would swoop in and take Olympus-starting the Fifth Age."

"You're as depressing as Nico." Thalia muttered.

Rachel knit her eyebrows. "So, Leo has Nico-itis too?"

The two boys beamed at each other before high-fiving.

**"It's just... I never had a half-brother before." I tried to keep my voice from cracking. "It's really different for me. And I'm worried about the camp. And another friend of mine, Grover ... he might be in trouble. I keep feeling like I should be doing something to help, but I don't know what."**

**Tyson said nothing.**

**"I'm sorry," I told him. "It's not your fault. I'm mad at Poseidon. I feel like he's trying to embarrass me, like he's trying to compare us or something, and I don't understand why."**

**I heard a deep rumbling sound. Tyson was snoring.**

"I never understood how he did that." Percy said. "Or Grover for that fact."

Nico grinned."Maybe the little clock monster inside his body-"

"What?"

"The monster in every one's body that controls what you do at anytime." Leo said.

"Anyways," Nico continued. "Maybe that monster got tired of hearing sappy stuff and decided to go to sleep because it was already drunk in the first place."

Leo nodded. "It got hung over when it went to a bar to forget how its girl friend broke up with him."

Artemis sighed and took out a piece of paper that said: Mental Institute: Nico, Hades, Apollo, Hermes. She added Leo's name to it and told Annabeth to keep reading.

**I sighed. "Good night, big guy."**

**And I closed my eyes, too.**

**In my dream, Grover was wearing a wedding dress.**

"So you're getting married to Grover then?" Connor asked.

"No!"

Travis rolled his eyes. "Why would you say that Connor?"

Percy sighed. "Thank you."

"He's obviously getting married to Annabeth, they're already dating."

Annabeth's face grew red while Percy face-palmed. "We're not getting married. No one is getting married okay?"

"Then why is Grover wearing a wedding dress?" Leo asked.

Nico smiled. "Because Clarisse and Chris are getting married and he wanted to try out wedding dresses for fun."

Clarisse's and Chris's eyes bugged out. "We're not getting married!"

Jason sighed. "If no one's getting married then WHY is Grover wearing a wedding dress?"

...

"Well we don't know yet." Katie said. "Read Annabeth."

"Wait!" Poseidon said. "So Percy and Annabeth aren't getting married?" He was already dressed in a black tuxedo and had a red rose in his pocket.

Percy gapped at his father's outfit. "Dad!"

"What?" Poseidon asked innocently while he watched Athena's eye twitch.

Aphrodite rolled her eyes. "Well someone has to be getting married today. We didn't just start this whole ordeal to blow it all off."

"Clarisse and Chris then." Ares grinned. He was dressed in an outfit similar to Poseidon's. Hermes nodded and changed his outfit.

Chris fainted and Clarisse had to catch him in her arms.

Zeus rolled his eyes. "It's Piper and Jason not Clarisse and Chris." Zeus was also dressed in a suit similar to Poseidon's.

Piper nearly fainted along with Chris while Jason's face began to resemble a tomato.

"STOP!" Everyone turned to face Connor. "Two people are getting married today because Grover is in a wedding dress and that is a sign from Hera. Aphrodite has decreed it so for the love of Hermes-"

Hermes smiled.

"-can we just pick two people and get the wedding over with?"

Nico tapped the floor with his sword and a skeleton mouse came out almost caring half the girls to death (which Nico and Hades didn't mind).

"What about that mouse?" Nico asked.

"That's not a person." Connor said.

"So? It could get married to cheese. At least there'd be a wedding." Nico said.

"Where'd we find the cheese?" Connor asked.

Artemis smirked. "Apollo has some left over cheese from breakfast."

"No! No, no, no, no, no! That's my special cheese. You can't use that!" Apollo protested.

* * *

><p><strong>45 ridiculous minutes later. <strong>

Everyone came back to the throne room dressed formally for a wedding under Aphrodite's consistant demands. "Alright," Zeus sighed. "Let's get this over with."

Hermes walked up to the booth where the mouse and cheese were waiting. "Dearly beloved, crazy... We are gathered here today by some twisted psychological thing planted in all our minds."

Aphrodite sent him a death glare.

"And also by our goddess of love and beauty Aphrodite." Aphrodite smiled.

"If there are any objections to this marriage please speak now or forever hold your peace."

"I OBJECT!" Apollo shouted. "That's my cheese! I want it-"

He was silenced at the death glare the mouse gave him. Hermes sighed. "Since you can't really speak to say the vows just take the cheese and go on. There, you're happily married."

The mouse glared at Hermes and shook his fist while probably muttering some curse in its language then ran off with the cheese.

"No!" Apollo sobbed while Ares held him back. "My ch-cheese! My cheese...!"

Zeus sighed. "Can we get back to reading now?"

* * *

><p><strong>It didn't fit him very well. The gown was too long and the hem was caked with dried mud. The neckline kept falling off his shoulders. A tattered veil covered his face.<strong>

"Of course you would pay attention to that." Thalia rolled her eyes.

"Well next time he goes to buy a wedding dress he should get a better one." Percy said. "It's not my fault he didn't get one that fit him."

"Stop." Dionysus said. "With the useless conversations Perry and Tatiana. Read Annabelle."

**He was standing in a dank cave, lit only by torches. There was a cot in one corner and an old-fashioned loom in the other, a length of white cloth half woven on the frame. And he was staring right at me, like I was a TV program he'd been waiting for. "Thank the gods!" he yelped. "Can you hear me?"**

**My dream-self was slow to respond. I was still looking around, taking in the stalactite ceiling, the stench of sheep and goats, the growling and grumbling and bleating sounds that seemed to echo from behind a refrigerator-sized boulder, which was blocking the room's only exit, as if there were a much larger cavern beyond it.**

**"Percy?" Grover said. "Please, I don't have the strength to project any better. You **_**have **_**to hear me!"**

**"I hear you," I said. "Grover, what's going on?"**

"That's what we all want to know." Nico said. "But of course Percy won't tell us."

"Isn't this usually the time you come up with a ridiculous explanation?" Chris asked.

Nico shrugged. "Yeah, but I wanted to see how you guys felt on this side of the spectrum. You know, asking questions instead of answering them."

**From behind the boulder, a monstrous voice yelled, "Honeypie! Are you done yet?"**

**Grover flinched. He called out in falsetto, "Not quite, dearest! A few more days!"**

"What?"

**"Bah! Hasn't it been two weeks yet?"**

**"N-no, dearest. Just five days. That leaves twelve more to go."**

**The monster was silent, maybe trying to do the math. He must've been worse at arithmetic than I was, because he said, "All right, but hurry! I want to SEEEEE under that veil, heh-heh-heh."**

"So Grover's getttng married?"

"Shut up Connor!"

"Jeez."

**Grover turned back to me. "You have to help me! No time! I'm stuck in this cave. On an island in the sea."**

**"**_**Where?"**_

**"I don't know exactly! I went to Florida and turned left."**

"Oh sure," Thalia muttered sarcastically. "Because those are _perfect_ instructions."

Travis knit his eyebrows. "I totally agree. Usually I go to Florida and turn _right_ not left."

Connor nodded. "Then you go forward."

"Okay," Nico said. "Even I don't know what you two are talking about."

"That's the direction to Fiji." Connor said.

"You two went to Fiji?" Katie asked. "When did you go to Fiji? You're year rounders at Camp."

The Stolls smirked. "We know some people." Travis said. "Besides, where would you go if you turned left anyways?"

"The Sea of Monsters." Annabeth said.

"Oh right." Travis deadpanned. "Sucks for Grover."

**"What? How did you—"**

**"It's a trap!" Grover said. "It's the reason no satyr has ever returned from this quest. He's a shepherd, Percy! And he **_**has **_**it. Its nature magic is **_**so **_**powerful it smells just like the great god Pan! The satyrs come here thinking they've found Pan, and they get trapped and eaten by Polyphemus!"**

Zeus almost breathed a sigh of relief. So Jackson knew. Now all he had to do is wait for Athena's daughter to figure out everything.

**"Poly-who?"**

**"The Cyclops!" Grover said, exasperated. "I almost got away. I made it all the way to St. Augustine."**

**"But he followed you," I said, remembering my first dream. "And trapped you in a bridal boutique."**

**"That's right," Grover said. "My first empathy link must've worked then. Look, this bridal dress is the only thing keeping me alive. He thinks I smell good, but I told him it was just goat-scented perfume. **

Almost everyone made a sour face.

**Thank goodness he can't see very well. His eye is still half blind from the last time somebody poked it out. **

Poseidon flinched.

**But soon he'll realize what I am. He's only giving me two weeks to finish the bridal train, and he's getting impatient!"**

**"Wait a minute. This Cyclops thinks you're—"**

**"Yes!" Grover wailed. "He thinks I'm a lady Cyclops and he wants to marry me!"**

...

Everyone burst out laughing almost immediately.

"That's hilarious!" Travis breathed through his teeth.

"Grover?" Nico laughed. "A lady cyclops?"

"Wow," Chris blinked. "I never expected to hear that." Then he turned to Clarisse. "I'm glad that didn't happen to you. To think that that cyclops would try to marry you... ridiculous."

Clarisse held her tongue while Percy and Annabeth stifled their laughter.

**Under different circumstances, I might've bursted out laughing, but Grover's voice was deadly serious. He was shaking with fear.**

**"I'll come rescue you," I promised. "Where are you?"**

**"The Sea of Monsters, of course!"**

**"The sea of **_**what?"**_

"You know," Thalia said. "It probably would've been better if he had made that empathy link with Annabeth. No offense Percy."

"None taken." Percy shrugged.

**"I told you! I don't know exactly where! And look, Percy ... urn, I'm really sorry about this, but this empathy link ... well, I had no choice. Our emotions are connected now. If I die ..."**

**"Don't tell me, I'll die too."**

**"Oh, well, perhaps not. You might live for years in a vegetative state. **

"Like that's any better." Jason said.

**But, uh, it would be a lot better if you got me out of here."**

**"Honeypie!" the monster bellowed. "Dinnertime! Yummy yummy sheep meat!"**

Nico knit his eyebrows. "Doesn't Grover hate meat?"

"Yeah." Percy said. "All satyrs are vegetarians."

Nico and Leo looked at each other and started chuckling.

"Why are you guys laughing?" Hermes asked.

"Grover's gotta eat sheep meat." Leo giggled.

"That's not funny." Apollo said.

"That must have been torture for him." Piper frowned.

"Exactly." Nico smiled. He had a dazed look on his face.

"There's something extremely wrong with you Di Angelo."

"Thank you Piper. I really appreciate that. It touches my heart."

**Grover whimpered. "I have to go. Hurry!"**

**"Wait! You said 'it' was here. What?"**

**But Grover's voice was already growing fainter. "Sweet dreams. Don't let me die!"**

Apollo shivered. "So morbid."

**The dream faded and I woke with a start. It was early morning. Tyson was staring down at me, his one big brown eye full of concern.**

**"Are you okay?" he asked.**

**His voice sent a chill down my back, because he sounded almost exactly like the monster I'd heard in my dream.**

**The morning of the race was hot and humid. Fog lay low on the ground like sauna steam. Millions of birds were roosting in the trees—fat gray-and-white pigeons, except they didn't coo like regular pigeons. They made this annoying metallic screeching sound that reminded me of submarine radar.**

Athena grimaced. "That's not good."

"Tell me about it." Katie said. She and the other demigods either rubbed old scars or grimaced at the reminder.

**The racetrack had been built in a grassy field between the archery range and the woods. Hephaestus's cabin had used the bronze bulls, which were completely tame since they'd had their heads smashed in, to plow an oval track in a matter of minutes.**

Hephaestus smiled. At least they didn't end up in a recycling bin.

**There were rows of stone steps for the spectators— Tantalus, the satyrs, a few dryads, and all of the campers who weren't participating. Mr. D didn't show. He never got up before ten o'clock.**

Dionysus shrugged at the looks he got. "Why should I? It's not like we have anything important to do that early in the morning."

**"Right!" Tantalus announced as the teams began to assemble. A naiad had brought him a big platter of pastries, and as Tantalus spoke, his right hand chased a chocolate eclair across the judge's table. **

Nico sighed contentedly. "And there goes the skinny lady, chasing the eclair. Too bad she'll never get to eat it."

"No it isn't." Connor said. "Why would it be bad?"

"Oh yeah." Nico said. "Did she ever get to eat it anyways?"

"No." Katie grinned.

"Then that means it'll never be over." Nico said.

**"You all know the rules. A quarter-mile track. Twice around to win. Two horses per chariot. Each team will consist of a driver and a fighter. Weapons are allowed. Dirty tricks are expected. But try not to kill anybody!" **

"Try telling that to Ares's cabin." Rachel muttered while Clarisse smiled at her innocently.

**Tantalus smiled at us like we were all naughty children. "Any killing will result in harsh punishment. No s'mores at the campfire for a week! **

Jason scoffed. "That's harsh punishment?"

"Oh yeah." Connor said sarcastically. "Extremely harsh, worse than death actually."

"If it was at Camp Jupiter you'd be thrown into the Little Tiber in a bag of weasels." Jason said.

"You so totally want me to go to your camp now." Rachel deadpanned.

**Now ready your chariots!"**

**Beckendorf led the Hephaestus team onto the track. **

Hepahaestus smiled at the mention of his son. He wondered what Charlie was up to now. Then a thought occured to him. _Why wasn't Charlie here with them?_

**They had a sweet ride made of bronze and iron—even the horses, which were magical automatons like the Colchis bulls. I had no doubt that their chariot had all kinds of mechanical traps and more fancy options than a fully loaded Maserati.**

Hephaestus shrugged. "Most likely."

**The Ares chariot was bloodred, and pulled by two grisly horse skeletons. ****Clarisse climbed aboard with a batch of javelins, spiked balls, caltrops, and a bunch of other nasty toys.**

Ares grinned wickedly.

**Apollo's chariot was trim and graceful and completely gold, pulled by two beautiful palominos. **

Apollo took a deep breath and smiled. He loved palominos and gold chariots and arrows and his children...

**Their fighter was armed with a bow, though he had promised not to shoot regular pointed arrows at the opposing drivers.**

**Hermes's chariot was green and kind of old-looking, **

Hermes's grin almost matched Ares's. Now he really couldn't wait for the race.

**as if it hadn't been out of the garage in years. It didn't look like anything special, but it was manned by the Stoll brothers, and I shuddered to think what dirty tricks they'd schemed up.**

The Stolls smiled at each other.

**That left two chariots: one driven by Annabeth, and the other by me.**

**Before the race began, I tried to approach Annabeth and tell her about my dream.**

Thalia face-palmed. "That's not going to work."

"I wish I'd known that before." Percy agreed.

**She perked up when I mentioned Grover, but when I told her what he'd said, she seemed to get distant again, suspicious.**

**"You're trying to distract me," she decided.**

**"What? No I'm not!"**

**"Oh, right! Like Grover would just happen to stumble across the **_**one **_**thing that could save the camp."**

**"What do you mean?"**

**She rolled her eyes. "Go back to your chariot, Percy."**

**"I'm not making this up. He's in trouble, Annabeth."**

**She hesitated. I could tell she was trying to decide whether or not to trust me. Despite our occasional fights,**

"So, is this a regular thing with you guys?" Leo asked.

"What?"

"Fighting constantly?" Leo said.

Before Percy or Annabeth answered Connor said, "You don't even know the half of it Leo!"

Rachel nodded. "I don't think there was ever a day when I didn't see Percy and Annabeth fight. Well, before Percy and Jason got switched anyways."

Clarisse rolled her eyes. "And it's always about the stupidest things."

Travis scoffed. "When we're doing battle plans against other cabins they'll fight over where we can position everyone."

Katie nodded. "Or when they're sparring and one person wins they'll fight over whether it was by cheating or not."

"Or at meetings-" Connor started.

"Alright!" Percy nearly yelled. "We get it. We argue a lot. Can you read Annabeth?"

"Don't tell me to continue."

"Well you happen to have the book."

"I'm not going to continue."

"How come?"

"I don't like the way you told me."

"What do you mean?"

"You said it with an attitude."

"So?"

"So you shouldn't talk to me like that."

"That's not the point. I just asked you to continue. No big deal."

"No _big deal_? Are you serious Percy?"

"Oh my gods!" Nico said. "Stop arguing already. You're killing my brain cells and arguing over _nothing_. Annabeth, can you please read?"

"See?" Annabeth said. "Nico knows how to say it."

Percy sighed exasperatedly and listened while Annabeth kept reading. The deities exchanged incredulous looks.

"Oh wow." Artemis whispered loud enough for only the deities to hear.

"I know right?" Apollo whispered back.

"They're just like Athena and Poseidon." Ares said. "Only with squeakier voices."

He flinched at the glares he got from Athena and Poseidon.

**we'd been through a lot together. And I knew she would never want anything bad to happen to Grover.**

**"Percy, an empathy link is so hard to do. I mean, it's more likely you really were dreaming."**

**"The Oracle," I said. "We could consult the Oracle."**

**Annabeth frowned.**

**Last summer, before my quest, I'd visited the strange spirit that lived in the Big House attic and it had given me a prophecy that came true in ways I'd never expected. The experience had freaked me out for months. Annabeth knew I'd never suggest going back there if I wasn't completely serious.**

**Before she could answer, the conch horn sounded.**

"And there goes your chance." Jason said. "Now what?"

"The chariot races start." Clarisse said.

**"Charioteers!" Tantalus called. "To your mark!"**

**"We'll talk later," Annabeth told me, **_**"after **_**I win."**

Clarisse smirked at Annabeth.

**As I was walking back to my own chariot, I noticed how many more pigeons were in the trees now—screeching like crazy, making the whole forest rustle. Nobody else seemed to be paying them much attention, but they made me nervous. **

**Their beaks glinted strangely. Their eyes seemed shinier than regular birds.**

"In hindsight," Nico stated. "You probably should've told Annabeth about them too."

Percy shrugged. "It didn't seem that important at the time."

**Tyson was having trouble getting our horses under control. I had to talk to them a long time before they would settle down.**

_**He's a monster, lord! **_**they complained to me.**

_**He's a son of Poseidon, **_**I told them. **_**Just like ... well, just like me.**_

_**No! **_**They insisted. **_**Monster! Horse-eater! Not trusted!**_

_**I'll give you sugar cubes at the end of the race, **_**I said.**

_**Sugar cubes?**_

Nico smiled in a daze. "I like sugar cubes..."

_**Very big sugar cubes. And apples. Did I mention the apples?**_

"What about the sugar cubes?" Nico frowned.

"They're for the horses." Katie said.

"What if _I_ want sugar cubes?" Nico asked.

Hades snapped his fingers and Nico was surrounded by sugar cubes in an instant. "Oo! Sugar cubes!"

He started stuffing his mouth with sugar cubes, having spazz attacks from time to time with the sugar over loads.

Connor marveled at the stacks of sugar cubes. "I want some!" When he reached for a sugar cube Nico smacked his hand away. "No. Nico no share. My sugar cubes! Get your own."

"Ow." Connor pouted and rubbed his hand.

**Finally they agreed to let me harness them.**

**Now, if you've never seen a Greek chariot, it's built for speed, not safety or comfort. It's basically a wooden basket, open at the back, mounted on an axle between two wheels. The driver stands up the whole time, and you can feel every bump in the road. The carriage is made of such light **_**wood **_**that if you wipe out making the hairpin turns at either end of the track, you'll probably tip over and crush both the chariot and yourself. **

"In other words it's completely epic." Travis said. The others who had experienced the chariots nodded in agreement.

**It's an even better rush than skate boarding.**

**I took the reins and maneuvered the chariot to the starting line. I gave Tyson a ten-foot pole and told him that his job was to push the other chariots away if they got too close, and to deflect anything they might try to throw at us.**

**"No hitting ponies with the stick," he insisted.**

**"No," I agreed. "Or people, either, if you can help it. We're going to run a clean race. Just keep the distractions away and let me concentrate on driving."**

**"We will win." He beamed.**

Poseidon grinned.

**We are **_**so **_**going to lose, **

Poseidon's smile faded. "Wow, nice to know my son is optimistic." He said sarcastically.

"Don't be so harsh on the boy." Demeter said. "Besides, he's exactly like you."

**I thought to myself, but I **_**had **_**to try. I wanted to show the others ... well, I wasn't sure what, exactly. That Tyson wasn't such a bad guy? That I wasn't ashamed of being seen with him in public? Maybe that they hadn't hurt me with all their jokes and name-calling?**

"Which they had." Rachel said.

"Thanks Rach." Percy said his voice oozing with sarcasm. "Your support is overbearing."

"You're welcome."

**As the chariots lined up, more shiny-eyed pigeons gathered in the woods. They were screeching so loudly the campers in the stands were starting to take notice, glancing nervously at the trees, which shivered under the weight of the birds. **

**Tantalus didn't look concerned, but he did have to speak up to be heard over the noise.**

**"Charioteers!" he shouted. "Attend your mark!"**

"You're actually going through with this?" Apollo said. He was suddenly afraid of any injuries or deaths that might occur.

**He waved his hand and the starting signal dropped. The chariots roared to life. Hooves thundered against the dirt. The crowd cheered.**

**Almost immediately there was a loud nasty **_**crack! **_**I looked back in time to see the Apollo chariot flip over. **

Apollo's mouth hung open while the other gods laughed at his cabin's misfortune.

**The Hermes chariot had rammed into it—maybe by mistake, maybe not.**

**The riders were thrown free, but their panicked horses dragged the golden chariot diagonally across the track. The Hermes team, Travis and Connor Stoll, were laughing at their good luck, but not for long. **

The Stolls frowned.

**The Apollo horses crashed into theirs, and the Hermes chariot flipped too, leaving a pile of broken wood and four rearing horses in the dust.**

Now Hermes stopped and frowned as Apollo laughed at him.

**Two chariots down in the first twenty feet. I loved this sport. **

**I turned my attention back to the front. We were making good time, pulling ahead of Ares, but Annabeth's chariot was way ahead of us. **

**She was already making her turn around the first post, her javelin man grinning and waving at us, shouting: "See ya!"**

Athena smiled and ignored the glares she got from the other gods.

**The Hephaestus chariot was starting to gain on us, too.**

**Beckendorf pressed a button, and a panel slid open on the side of his chariot.**

Hephaestus grinned and waited for the moment Jackson's chariot would crash.

**"Sorry, Percy!" he yelled. Three sets of balls and chains shot straight toward our wheels. **

Poseidon flinched and waited for the moment of impact.

**They would've wrecked us completely if Tyson hadn't whacked them aside with a quick swipe of his pole. He gave the Hephaestus chariot a good shove and sent them skittering sideways while we pulled ahead. **

Hephaestus's grin faded while Poseidon beamed at Tyson's work.

**"Nice work, Tyson!" I yelled.**

**"Birds!" he cried.**

**"What?"**

**We were whipping along so fast it was hard to hear or see anything, but Tyson pointed toward the woods and I saw what he was worried about. The pigeons had risen from the trees. They were spiraling like a huge tornado, heading toward the track.**

_**No big deal, **_**I told myself. **_**They're just pigeons.**_

"I wish." Katie muttered. It had taken her three weeks to recover from her injuries from those birds.

**I tried to concentrate on the race.** **We made our first turn, the wheels creaking under us, the chariot threatening to tip, but we were now only ten feet behind Annabeth. If I could just get a little closer, Tyson could use his pole….**

**Annabeth's fighter wasn't smiling now. He pulled a javelin from his collection and took aim at me. He was about to throw when we heard the screaming.**

The deities became concerned to what had happened to their kids.

**The pigeons were swarming—thousands of them dive-bombing the spectators in the stands, attacking the other chariots. Beckendorf was mobbed. **

Hephaestus flinched.

**His fighter tried to bat the birds away but he couldn't see anything. The chariot veered off course and plowed through the strawberry fields, the mechanical horses steaming.**

Demeter sighed. "And there goes the strawberry fields. Do you know how much work that's going to take to fix..."

Hephaestus shook his head at her while she continued her rant. "Unbelievable." He muttered. _What about my kids? Who cares about your strawberry fields?_

"I know!" Demeter agreed. "Three weeks! Three weeks to completely heal them..."

"Shut up you shriveled cereal flake!" Hades yelled. He ignored Katie and Demeter's glare and told Annabeth to continue reading.

**In the Ares chariot, Clarisse barked an order to her fighter, who quickly threw a screen of camouflage netting over their basket. The birds swarmed around it, pecking and clawing at the fighter's hands as he tried to hold up the net, but Clarisse just gritted her teeth and kept driving. **

Ares grinned. "Oh we are _so_ going to win."

**Her skeletal horses seemed immune to the distraction. The pigeons pecked uselessly at their empty eye sockets and flew through their rib cages, but the stallions kept right on running.**

**The spectators weren't so lucky. The birds were slashing at any bit of exposed flesh, driving everyone into a panic. Now that the birds were closer, it was clear they weren't normal pigeons. **

**Their eyes were beady and evil-looking. Their beaks were made of bronze, and judging from the yelps of the campers, they must've been razor sharp.**

Everyone grimaced.

**"Stymphalian birds!" Annabeth yelled. She slowed down and pulled her chariot alongside mine. "They'll strip everyone to bones if we don't drive them away!"**

**"Tyson," I said, "we're turning around!"**

**"Going the wrong way?" he asked.**

**"Always," I grumbled, **

"Isn't that true?" Percy sighed.

"Yeah," Connor said. "Yeah it is."

**but I steered the chariot toward the stands.**

**Annabeth rode right next to me. She shouted, "Heroes, to arms!" But I wasn't sure anyone could hear her over the screeching of the birds and the general chaos.**

**I held my reins in one hand and managed to draw Riptide as a wave of birds dived at my face, **

"Not the face!" Poseidon nearly shrieked. "That's the most important part to delivering a perfect pickup line. Pray tell Percy! Not the face!"

"Wow Poseidon." Hades said as everyone watched him grab Percy's face and examine it closely. "I never knew you were so obsessed with your face, or your son's."

Poseidon stopped momentarily to glare at Hades and then continued to examine Percy's face. After a minute or so he sighed in relief. "It's okay everyone. His face is fine."

Athena rolled her eyes. "You say it like we ever cared about his face in the first place."

He glared at her momentarily before telling Annabeth to read.

**their metal beaks snapping. I slashed them out of the air and they exploded into dust and feathers, but there were still millions of them left. One nailed me in the back end and I almost jumped straight out of the chariot.**

**Annabeth wasn't having much better luck. **

Now Athena got a worried look and glanced at Annabeth's face.

"Were you all at camp when the birds attacked?" Apollo asked.

When most of the demigods said yes half of the gods got up to examine their faces.

"You know what Poseidon?" Demeter said as she examined Katie's face. "Maybe you weren't all that wrong when you were examining Percy's face."

"Dad I'm fine!" Connor yelped as Hermes looked over his face for the ninth time. "Nonsense!" Hermes said. "It never helped to be too sure."

**The closer we got to the stands, the thicker the cloud of birds became.**

**Some of the spectators were trying to fight back. The Athena campers were calling for shields. The archers from Apollo's cabin brought out their bows and arrows, ready to slay the menace, but with so many campers mixed in with the birds, it wasn't safe to shoot.**

**"Too many!" I yelled to Annabeth. "How do you get rid of them?"**

**She stabbed at a pigeon with her knife. "Hercules used noise! Brass bells! He scared them away with the most horrible sound he could—" **

**Her eyes got wide. "Percy ... Chiron's collection!"**

"Wow." Jason said. "That's kind of mean."

Annabeth raised an eyebrows. "Have you ever heard Chiron's CDs?"

"Well, no."

"Then you don't know how horrible they sound."

**I understood instantly. "You think it'll work?"**

**She handed her fighter the reins and leaped from her chariot into mine like it was the easiest thing in the world. **

Annabeth shrugged. "It was."

"It looked complicated."

"We weren't even moving that much."

"But still. It looked really dangerous."

"Since when are you worried about stuff being dangerous?"

"When you're doing it."

...

"Hello?" Thalia said. "Are you guys still in there? You realize that your heads have been leaning forward pretty fast, right? Athena looks like she might murder Percy."

The two stopped leaning forward before they could kiss and Annabeth kept on reading much to Percy's dismay while Athena huffed. Poseidon didn't look so excited either.

**"To the Big House! It's our only chance!"**

Athena knit her eyebrows. _So then Annabeth doesn't win?_

**Clarisse has just pulled across the finish line, **

Ares grinned. "Ha! I knew it. How awesome is Clarisse?" Clarisse blushed. "How awesome am I?" When he saw everyone open their mouths to respond he said, "Don't answer that last question."

**completely unopposed, and seemed to notice for the first time how serious the bird problem was.**

**When she saw us driving away, she yelled, "You're **_**running? **_**The fight is here, cowards!" **

**She drew her sword and charged for the stands.**

**I urged our horses into a gallop. The chariot rumbled through the strawberry fields, **

Demeter sighed. "Now it'll take even longer to heal them! Six weeks at the least!"

Hades sent an aggravated look towards Demeter and waited for Annabeth to continue reading.

**across the volleyball pit, and lurched to a halt in front of the Big House. Annabeth and I ran inside, tearing down the hallway to Chiron's apartment.**

**His boom box was still on his nightstand. So were his favorite CDs. I grabbed the most repulsive one I could find,**

**Annabeth snatched the boom box, and together we ran back outside.**

**Down at the track, the chariots were in flames. Wounded campers ran in every direction, with birds shredding their clothes and pulling out their hair, **

"You're gone for twenty seconds and all of that happens?" Hermes asked incredulously.

Apollo smiled. "The Aphrodite cabin really knows how to spread gossip... OW!"

Aphrodite glared at him while he handed her her stiletto.

**while Tantalus chased breakfast pastries around the stands, every once in a while yelling, "Everything's under control! Not to worry.'"**

The deities narrowed their eyes.

**We pulled up to the finish line. Annabeth got the boom box ready. I prayed the batteries weren't dead.**

**I pressed PLAY and started up Chiron's favorite—the **_**All-Time Greatest Hits of Dean Martin. **_**Suddenly the air was filled with violins and a bunch of guys moaning in Italian.**

Most of the people groaned. Nico however, said, "Chiron has Dean Martin? Do you think he'll let me borrow his CD? What? I'm half Italian."

**The demon pigeons went nuts. **

Nico chuckled. "Demon pidgeons..." Then he frowned. "They turned into nuts?"

"Ignore his comments." Demeter stopped anyone else from speaking. "Continue Annabeth."

**They started flying in circles, running into each other like they wanted to bash their own brains out. **

"Do you think that works on all monsters?" Leo asked. "'Cause if it does I'll have to borrow some of Chiron's CDs too."

"I don't know." Annabeth said. "It probably wouldn't work but we could try."

Connor scowled. "I wouldn't want to carry around Frank Sinatra all the time."

"Yeah," Jason agreed. "Not cool."

"Plus you'd have to have fresh batteries all the time." Clarisse added.

Ares nodded. "That is _not_ a heroic way to kill a monster. If that would work then that means that anyone can kill the Hydra or the Nemean Lion or Ladon. No way. You'd make war lame."

Aphrodite cocked her head. "At least they wouldn't get hurt."

She and Ares stared at each other for a while before Aphrodite broke the gaze and told Annabeth to read.

**Then they abandoned the track altogether and flew skyward in a huge dark wave.**

**"Now!" shouted Annabeth. "Archers!"**

**With clear targets, Apollo's archers had flawless aim. **

**Most of them could notch five or six arrows at once. Within minutes, the ground was littered with dead bronze-beaked pigeons, and the survivors were a distant trail of smoke on the horizon.**

Travis patted his belly. "Those were some good birds."

His brother agreed with a dazed look on his face.

"You got to eat them?" Nico asked. When they nodded he asked, "Why didn't you keep them as pets?"

"We didn't want to get eaten." Connor said. "They'd find a way to get out sooner or later. Or some one would let them out intentionally or accidently."

**The camp was saved, but the wreckage wasn't pretty. Most of the chariots had been completely destroyed. **

**Almost everyone was wounded, bleeding from multiple bird pecks. The kids from Aphrodite's cabin were screaming because their hairdos had been ruined and their clothes pooped on.**

Hephaestus had to put a hand over Aphrodite's mouth so she wouldn't kill everyone's eardrums.

**"Bravo!" Tantalus said, but he wasn't looking at me or Annabeth. "We have our first winner!" He walked to the finish line and awarded the golden laurels for the race to a stunned-looking Clarisse.**

Ares grinned.

**Then he turned and smiled at me. "And now to punish the troublemakers who disrupted this race."**

"Troublemakers?" Poseidon seethed.

* * *

><p><strong>Sorry it took so long to get this chapter. Happy holidays. Review if you feel like it.<strong>

**Erudite19**


	7. Gifts From A Stranger

"Why that complete imbecile!" Poseidon scowled. "I should lock him up in a room full of Hera's food behind a glass case then we'll see who Hera thinks is the troublemaker."

He started chuckling lightly while his trident boiled the air around it.

Chris turned to Percy. "The way he thinks and the sinister look on his face scares me into what you think about sometimes."

"It scares me to." Percy said.

"Here Travis." Annabeth handed him the book.

"**I Accept Gifts from a Stranger," **Travis read.

"Because that's completely regular." Demeter said.

"Exactly." Nico agreed. He stuffed another sugar cube into his mouth.

"So Nico," Connor stared at the pile of sugar cubes surrounding Nico hungrily. "You gonna eat all of those sugar cubes by yourself?"

Nico stopped a sugar cube midway to his mouth. "'Cause, that's a pretty big pile Nico. And you've had about twenty or so spaz attacks since you've started eating them. Don't you think you'll get diabetes?"

Hades smiled. "He won't get diabetes. They're magic so they'll go right through his system."

"Oh." Connor frowned. "Well you can't eat them _all_ by yourself. Why don't you let me help you out? Share some of your spaz attacks."

"What?" Nico asked innocently. "You mean the sugar cubes from this pile like this one?"

He held up a perfectly shaped sugar cube and Connor swallowed hard and nodded. "This sugar cube that's shaped like a cube?"

Connor nodded again. "With the little tiny sugar grains bunched up together?"

Connor nodded. "And the white grains that melt in my mouth whenever I put them in?"

"Uh-huh." Connor said desperately.

"No." Connor pouted but before he could say anything Travis began reading.

**The way Tantalus saw it, the Stymphalian birds had simply been minding their own business in the woods and would not have attacked if Annabeth, Tyson, and I hadn't disturbed them with our bad chariot driving.**

"Unnaceptable!" Poseidon roared. "That sick spirit..."

"Read Travis." Hades sighed. "Before Poseidon explodes again."

**This was so completely unfair, I told Tantalus to go chase a doughnut, **

A light chuckle spread through the room while Poseidon gave his son an approving smile.

**which didn't help his mood. He sentenced us to kitchen patrol—scrubbing pots and platters all afternoon in the underground kitchen with the cleaning harpies. **

"Your kitchen is underground?" Jason asked.

"Yeah." Nico smiled and stopped stuffing his mouth momentarily. "It's epic."

Clarisse knit her eyebrows. "How would you know Di Angelo? You've never been there before."

Nico shoved another sugar cube in his mouth. "Can't answer! Eating."

"Oh my gods!" Katie nearly yelled. "You're the reason our food supply depletes from time to time. You steal food from our kitchen sometimes don't you Nico?"

"Pfft." Nico scoffed. "Please, I wouldn't stoop _that_ low. The naiads just give me the food and send me away. I don't steal anything."

He disregarded Katie's disapproving look and waited for Travis to read.

**The harpies washed with lava instead of water, to get that extra-clean sparkle and kill ninety-nine point nine percent of all germs, ****so Annabeth and I had to wear asbestos gloves and aprons.** **Tyson didn't mind. He plunged his bare hands right in and started scrubbing, but Annabeth and I had to suffer through hours of hot, dangerous work, especially since there were tons of extra plates. **

"Extra plates?" Demeter knit her eyebrows in confusion.

**Tantalus had ordered a special luncheon banquet to celebrate Clarisse's chariot victory—a full-course meal featuring country-fried Stymphalian death-bird.**

Connor and Travis giggled and rubbed their stomachs.

**The only good thing about our punishment was that it gave Annabeth and me a common enemy and lots of time to talk. **

"Everyone hated Tantalus, Percy." Connor said and Travis nodded in approvement. "If you wanted to leave secretly and gather all of the counselors to find something to save Thalia's tree we would've all joined you in an instant. All you had to do was say something."

Travis, Katie, Annabeth, and Clarisse nodded in agreement. "I wish I'd known that before." Percy muttered.

**After listening to my dream about Grover again, she looked like she might be starting to believe me.**

Athena and Poseidon sighed in relief.

**"If he's really found it," she murmured, "and if we could retrieve it—"**

Leo sighed in aggravation. "What is this thing you're talking about? You're aggravating me in your book form. Is that even supposed to be _possible_?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Read Travis."

"Nooo! Answer me!"

**"Hold on," I said. "You act like this ... whatever-it-is Grover found is the only thing in the world that could save the camp. **

Zeus leaned forward in anticipation.

**What **_**is **_**it?"**

**"I'll give you a hint. **

"I hate hints." Percy said in a low voice. Only Annabeth heard him and she rolled her eyes and elbowed him in the guts.

**What do you get when you skin a ram?"**

Athena sat up straight. _The Glolden Fleece! _So that was why Thalia was alive. Why hadn't she thought of that?

**"Mess?"**

**She sighed. **_**"**_**A **_**fleece. **_**The coat of a ram is called a fleece. And if that ram happens to have golden wool—"**

"The Golden Fleece!" Apollo said. "Why didn't _I_ think about that? I mean I _am_ golden after all." He adjusted his raybans and flashed a smile, literally, at everyone.

Artemis squinted in the sunlight. "Apollo, close your mouth! I can't see!" Apollo pouted and the light dimmed.

"I can't see!" The Stolls yelled. They ran around in circles with their hands pressed over their eyes.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Take your hands off your eyes, you idiots."

The two brothers stopped running and took their hands off their eyes. "Oh."

"Thanks Katie!"

...

"Hey! We're not idiots!"

**"The Golden Fleece. Are you serious?"**

**Annabeth scrapped a plateful of death-bird bones into the lava. "Percy, remember the Gray Sisters? **

Nico shivered.

"Are you having _another_ spaz attack?" Hermes asked.

"No. Just remembering my little talk with the Gray Sisters at the restaurant. No big deal." Nico didn't seem to notice the stifled laughter from some of the demigods.

**They said they knew the location of the thing you seek. And they mentioned Jason. Three thousand years ago, they told **_**him **_**how to find the Golden Fleece. You **_**do **_**know the story of Jason and the Argonauts?"**

**"Yeah," I said. "That old movie with the clay skeletons."**

**Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Oh my gods, Percy! You are so hopeless."**

Percy rolled his eyes. "I am not!"

"Yes you are." Thalia and Nico chorused.

"Jeez."

**"**_**What?" **_**I demanded.**

**"Just listen. The real story of the Fleece: there were these two children of Zeus, Cadmus and Europa, okay? They were about to get offered up as human sacrifices, when they prayed to Zeus to save them. So Zeus sent this magical flying ram with golden wool,**

"Oh yes, because that's exactly what you send to your children when they ask for help." Hades complained.

Nico nodded. "I mean, you might as well add rainbows and angels to complete the look."

Zeus rolled his eyes. "Well what do you expect? Did you want me to send a unicorn too?"

"Yes."

Zeus sighed. "Read Travis."

**which picked them up in Greece and carried them all the way to Colchis in Asia Minor. **

Piper, Leo, and Jason flinched.

**Well, actually it carried Cadmus. Europa fell off and died along the way, but that's not important."**

Jason knit his eyebrows in confusion. "It was probably important to her."

Annabeth gapped at him while Percy tried hard to stifle his laughter. "That's not the point!"

"So? I bet it would've been important to you if you fell off and died on the way to Colchis." Jason said.

Annabeth sighed. "But that's not the main point of the story."

"Every detail is important in a story." Jason smirked.

"Oh shut up." Annabeth said.

"See?" Percy stated. "Jason understands Europa's importance."

"I said, shut up already!"

The two boys smirked at Annabeth's discomfort.

**"It was probably important to her."**

Annabeth glared at Jason and Percy and dared them to say anything.

**"The **_**point **_**is, when Cadmus got to Colchis, he sacrificed the golden ram to the gods and hung the Fleece in a tree in the middle of the kingdom. The Fleece brought prosperity to the land. Animals stopped getting sick. Plants grew better. Farmers had bumper crops. Plagues never visited. That's why Jason wanted the Fleece. It can revitalize any land where it's placed. It cures sickness, strengthens nature, cleans up pollution—"**

**"It could cure Thalia's tree."**

Everyone held their breaths while Travis continued reading.

**Annabeth nodded. "And it would totally strengthen the borders of Camp Half-Blood. But Percy, the Fleece has been missing for centuries. Tons of heroes have searched for it with no luck."**

**"But Grover found it," I said. "He went looking for Pan and he found the Fleece instead because they both radiate nature magic. It makes sense, Annabeth. We can rescue him and save the camp at the same time. It's perfect!"**

Piper narrowed her eyes. "Doesn't that seem a little too suspicious?"

Clarisse nodded. "It could've been a trap but we had no other choice."

"We?" Ares asked. When no one answered Travis continued reading.

**Annabeth hesitated. "A little **_**too **_**perfect, don't you think? What if it's a trap?"**

**I remembered last summer, how Kronos had manipulated our quest. He'd almost fooled us into helping him start a war that would've destroyed Western Civilization.**

**"What choice do we have?" I asked. "Are you going to help me rescue Grover or not?"**

**She glanced at Tyson, who'd lost interest in our conversation and was happily making toy boats out of cups and spoons in the lava.**

"Enchanted lava?" Piper asked.

Katie shook her head. "Enchanted dishes and untensils. The dishes won't burn or melt but you still will."

**"Percy," she said under her breath, "we'll have to fight a Cyclops. Polyphemus, the **_**worst **_**of the Cyclopes.**

"I wish." Percy whispered to Annabeth. She nodded her head as she remembered Antaeus.

**And there's only one place his island could be. The Sea of Monsters."**

Poseidon and Athena cringed. If they were right their children would be sailing through the Sea of Monsters.

**"Where's that?"**

**She stared at me like she thought I was playing dumb.**

"If only." Annabeth muttered.

**"The Sea of Monsters. The same sea Odysseus sailed through, and Jason, **

Nico swallowed down a sugar cube. "You sailed through the Sea of Monsters, Jason?"

Jason nodded. "Kind of, although the Jason Annabeth is talking about is from thousands of years ago."

"When'd you sail through it?" Thalia asked in worry.

"In our time? Last year."

"Oh."

**and Aeneas, and all the others."**

**"You mean the Mediterranean?"**

**"No. Well, yes ... but no."**

**"Another straight answer. Thanks."**

**"Look, Percy, the Sea of Monsters is the sea all heroes sail through on their adventures. It used to be in the Mediterranean, yes. But like everything else, it shifts locations as the West's center of power shifts."**

**"Like Mount Olympus being above the Empire State Building," I said. "And Hades being under Los Angeles."**

**"Right."**

**"But a whole sea full of monsters—how could you hide something like that? Wouldn't the mortals notice weird things happening ... like, ships getting eaten and stuff?"**

"They do." Athena said. "They don't exactly understand it though."

**"Of course they notice. They don't understand, but they know something is strange about that part of the ocean. The Sea of Monsters is off the east coast of the U.S. now, just northeast of Florida. The mortals even have a name for it."**

**"The Bermuda Triangle?"**

"Dun, Dun, Dun!" Nico said. "Cue dramatic music Apollo."

Apollo nodded and took out a violin. "No," Artemis stopped them. "No dramatic music. Keep readingg Travis."

**"Exactly."**

**I let that sink in. I guess it wasn't stranger than any thing else I'd learned since coming to Camp Half-Blood. "Okay ... so at least we know where to look."**

**"It's still a huge area, Percy. Searching for one tiny island in monster-infested waters—"**

**"Hey, I'm the son of the sea god. This is my home turf. How hard can it be?"**

Hades sniffed. "You arrogant upstarts and your egos."

**Annabeth knit her eyebrows. "We'll have to talk to Tantalus, get approval for a quest. He'll say no."**

Thalia got a sour look on her face.

**"Not if we tell him tonight at the campfire in front of everybody. The whole camp will hear. They'll pressure him. He won't be able to refuse."**

**"Maybe." A little bit of hope crept into Annabeth's voice**_**. **_**"We'd better get these dishes done. Hand me the lava spray gun, will you?"**

**That night at the campfire, Apollo's cabin led the sing-along. **

Apollo smiled again so Artemis had to put a hand over his mouth.

"How come Apollo's cabin always leads the sing-along?" Travis asked.

"Because no one else will." Clarisse deadpanned. "And no one else can sing."

"I want to lead it." Connor said.

"No." Travis said. "No need to do that."

"Why not?"

"Dude, have you ever heard yourself sing in the shower? You're horrible."

"Well..."

**They tried to get everybody's spirits up, but it wasn't easy after that afternoon's bird attack. We all sat around a semicircle of stone steps, singing halfheartedly and watching the bonfire blaze while the Apollo guys strummed their guitars and picked their lyres.**

**We did ****all the standard camp numbers: "Down by the Aegean," "I Am My Own Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandpa," "This Land is Minos's Land."**

**The bonfire was enchanted, so the louder you sang, the higher it rose, changing color and heat with the mood of the crowd. On a good night, I'd seen it twenty feet high, bright purple, and so hot the whole front row's marshmallows burst into flames. Tonight, the fire was only five feet high, barely warm, and the flames were the color of lint.**

Hermes whistled. "You guys must be really depressed."

**Dionysus left early. After suffering through a few songs, he muttered something about how even pinochle with Chiron had been more exciting than this. **

Dionysus scowled. "Indeed."

**Then he gave Tantalus a distasteful look and headed back toward the Big House.**

Travis grinned. "Even Dionysus didn't like him."

Most of the demigods sent him smiles which surprised him extremely.

**When the last song was over, Tantalus said, "Well, that was lovely!"**

**He came forward with a toasted marshmallow on a stick and tried to pluck it off, real casual-like. But before he could touch it, the marshmallow flew off the stick. Tantalus made a wild grab, but the marshmallow committed suicide, diving into the flames.**

Everyone errupted into laughter. "I would've paid a hundred dollars to see that." Thalia said smiling.

**Tantalus turned back toward us, smiling coldly. "Now then! Some announcements about tomorrow's schedule."**

**"Sir," I said.**

**Tantalus's eye twitched. "Our kitchen boy has some thing to say?"**

**Some of the Ares campers snickered, but I wasn't going to let anybody embarrass me into silence. I stood and looked at Annabeth. Thank the gods, she stood up with me.**

"Yeah," Connor said. "We all thought you were crazy when you stood up."

Travis rolled his eyes. "It's not 'we all thought'. It's Connor thought you were going to dive into the fire and commit suicide just like the marshmallows."

At Percy's incredulous look Connor said, "It's not my fault! It looked like you were going to do it!"

**I said, "We have an idea to save the camp."**

**Dead silence, but I could tell I'd gotten everybody's interest, because the campfire flared bright yellow.**

**"Indeed," Tantalus said blandly. "Well, if it has anything to do with chariots—"**

**"The Golden Fleece," I said. "We know where it is."**

**The flames burned orange. Before Tantalus could stop me, I blurted out my dream about Grover and Polyphemus's island. Annabeth stepped in and reminded everybody what the Fleece could do. It sounded more convincing coming from her.**

"Of course it did." Travis waggled his eyebrows causing Percy to blush.

"No dude." Connor said. "It actually _did_ sound more convincing coming from her."

"You're just saying that because you thought he was unstable and was going to follow in the marshmallow's foot steps."

"It seemed likely that he was. I'm telling you, he had that look on his face that you only see in suicide victims."

"No he didn't. How would you know that anyways? Have you ever seen someone right before they commit suicide?"

"Does almost getting eaten by a monster count?"

"No."

"He still had that look on his face."

"Oh my gods!"

"Ramone!"

"Shut up!" Katie yelled. "Continue Travis."

**"The Fleece can save the camp," she concluded. "I'm certain of it."**

**"Nonsense," said Tantalus. "We don't need saving."**

**Everybody stared at him until Tantalus started looking uncomfortable.**

Zeus nodded in approval.

**"Besides," he added quickly, "the Sea of Monsters? That's hardly an exact location. You wouldn't even know where to look."**

Poseidon smiled. _Athena's daughter had not figured it out this time. Not all the way anyways._

**"Yes, I would," I said.**

**Annabeth leaned toward me and whispered, "You would?"**

**I nodded, because Annabeth had jogged something in my memory when she reminded me about our taxi drive with the Gray Sisters. At the time, the information they'd given me made no sense. But now...**

**"30, 31, 75, 12," I said.**

**"Ooo-kay," Tantalus said. "Thank you for sharing those meaningless numbers."**

**"They're sailing coordinates," I said. "Latitude and longitude. I, uh, learned about it in social studies."**

Athena looked at Percy and her expression loosened a fraction of a degree. Maybe this sea spawn was worthy of his daughter after all.

**Even Annabeth looked impressed. "30 degrees, 31 minutes north, 75 degrees, 12 minutes west. He's right! The Gray Sisters gave us those coordinates. That'd be somewhere in the Atlantic, off the coast of Florida. The Sea of Monsters. We need a quest!"**

**"Wait just a minute," Tantalus said.**

**But the campers took up the chant. "We need a quest! We need a quest!"**

**The flames rose higher.**

Apollo frowned. _So his children couldn't get the camp's spirit up but Jackson's stupid coordinates could? That's so inspirational!_

**"It isn't necessary!" Tantalus insisted.**

"That sick, repulsive imbecile!" Zeus shouted.

"I know right!" Poseidon agreed.

"Oh great." Hades sighed. "Now both barnacle beard and electric teddy bear are at it."

"HADES!"

"Read Travis."

**"WE NEED A QUEST! WE NEED A QUEST!"**

**"Fine!" Tantalus shouted, his eyes blazing with anger. "You brats want me to assign a quest?"**

**"YES!"**

**"Very well," he agreed. "I shall authorize a champion to undertake this perilous journey, to retrieve the Golden Fleece and bring it back to camp. Or die trying."**

**My heart filled with excitement. I wasn't going to let Tantalus scare me. This was what I needed to do. I was going to save Grover and the camp. Nothing would stop me.**

"Wow," Clarisse said. "Aren't you proud of yourself Jackson."

**"I will allow our champion to consult the Oracle!" Tantalus announced. "And choose two companions for the journey. And I think the choice of champion is obvious."**

**Tantalus looked at Annabeth and me as if he wanted to flay us alive.**

"Which," Dionysus stated. "Considering he did that same thing to his children, he probably did."

**"The champion should be one who has earned the camp's respect, who has proven resourceful in the chariot races and courageous in the defense of the camp. **_**You **_**shall lead this quest ... Clarisse!"**

**The fire flickered a thousand different colors. The Ares cabin started stomping and cheering, "CLARISSE! CLARISSE!"**

"CLARISSE?" The deities questioned.

"You know I'm right here right?" Clarisse asked.

"Yeah!" Ares said. "That's my girl! Go Clarisse! Woo!" Which made Clarisse blush even more.

**Clarisse stood up, looking stunned. Then she swallowed, and her chest swelled with pride. "I accept the quest!"**

**"Wait!" I shouted. "Grover is my friend. The dream came to **_**me."**_

**"Sit down!" yelled one of the Ares campers. "You had your chance last summer!"**

**"Yeah, he just wants to be in the spotlight again!" another said.**

"Oh sure." Percy rolled his eyes. "Because I _definitely_ want to go on a suicide mission _just_ to be in the spotlight again."

**Clarisse glared at me. "I accept the quest!" she repeated. "I, Clarisse, daughter of Ares, will save the camp!"**

"You know," Dionysus started. "Even I have to say that Pedro has a point Carmen. I mean, he did get all of the clues."

"My names not-"

"Don't try Percy." Thalia interrupted. "Read Travis."

**The Ares campers cheered even louder. Annabeth protested, and the other Athena campers joined in. Everybody else started taking sides—shouting and arguing and throwing marshmallows. I thought it was going to turn into a full-fledged s'more war until Tantalus shouted, "Silence, you brats!"**

"Aw." Ares said. "What? They were going to start a marshmallow war. It's still war. Stop looking at me like that."

**His tone stunned even me.**

**"Sit down!" he ordered. "And I will tell you a ghost story."**

"Oh no." Apollo said.

"Here we go again." Dionysus muttered.

"Not this story again." Demeter scowled.

"You've all heard this often?" Nico asked.

Poseidon shrugged. "Every thousand years or so we call in Tantalus to help if there's a problem and he gives the same story over and over again."

"You call him back?" Percy asked in disgust.

"It was Hera's idea." Zeus shrugged. "After that, we just kind of forget about the whole ordeal."

**I didn't know what he was up to, but we all moved reluctantly back to our seats. The evil aura radiating from Tantalus was as strong as any monster I'd ever faced.**

**"Once upon a time there was a mortal king who was beloved of the Gods!" **

Aphrodite scoffed. "_Beloved?_" Everyone jumped slightly because they hadn't really heard her speak all day. "The stupid, untrustworthy ghost doesn't have the right to use that word."

**Tantalus put his hand on his chest, and I got the feeling he was talking about himself.**

"Oh he is." Artemis frowned.

**"This king," he said, "was even allowed to feast on Mount Olympus. But when he tried to take some ambrosia and nectar back to earth to figure out the recipe—just one little doggie bag, mind you—the gods punished him. **

"Well it's not for mortals!" Zeus roared.

**They banned him from their halls forever! His own people mocked him! His children scolded him! And, oh yes, campers, he had horrible children. Children—just—like— you."**

**He pointed a crooked finger at several people in the audience, including me.**

"Percy's not horrible." Connor said. Percy was about to thank him when he added. "Maybe a little crazy but not horrible."

"You're just saying that because he pointed at you." Travis said.

"He pointed at you too." Connor replied. "With his crooked finger and everything. I don't know how many places that thing was bent but it was more than three."

"TMI." Nico said. He put down the sugar cube he was about to eat and told Travis to read.

**"Do you know what he did to his ungrateful children?" Tantalus asked softly. "Do you know how he paid back the gods for their cruel punishment? He invited the Olympians to a feast at his palace, just to show there were no hard feelings. No one noticed that his children were missing. And when he served the gods dinner, my dear campers, can you guess what was in the stew?"**

A solar eclipse happened coincidentally about this time blocking all the light from the United States for about ten minutes.

**No one dared answer. The firelight glowed dark blue, reflecting evilly on Tantalus's crooked face.**

**"Oh, the gods punished him in the afterlife," Tantalus croaked. "They did indeed. But he'd had his moment of satisfaction, hadn't he? His children never again spoke back to him or questioned his authority. **

"They weren't _alive_." Apollo groaned.

**And do you know what? Rumor has it that the king's spirit now dwells at this very camp, waiting for a chance to take revenge on ungrateful, rebellious children. **

"Of course Hera would suggest this." Thalia grumbled. "She has a thing against all of us."

Annabeth nodded in agreement.

**And so ... are there any more complaints, before we send Clarisse off on her quest?"**

**Silence.**

**Tantalus nodded at Clarisse. "The Oracle, my dear. Go on."**

**She shifted uncomfortably, like even **_**she **_**didn't want glory at the price of being Tantalus's pet. **

"I didn't." Clarisse said. "He was _way_ too creepy for me."

"That's one thing we all agree on." Connor muttered, still staring at the sugar pile.

**"Sir—"**

**"Go!" he snarled.**

**She bowed awkwardly and hurried off toward the Big House.**

**"What about you, Percy Jackson?" Tantalus asked. "No comments from our dishwasher?"**

**I didn't say anything. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of punishing me again.**

**"Good," Tantalus said. "And let me remind everyone— no one leaves this camp without my permission. **

Most of the demigods sent looks to Percy and Annabeth who suddenly took interest in their t-shirts.

**Anyone who tries ... well, if they survive the attempt, they will be expelled forever, but it won't come to that. The harpies will be enforcing curfew from now on, and they are always hungry! Good night, my dear campers. Sleep well."**

**With a wave of Tantalus's hand, the fire was extinguished, and the campers trailed off toward their cabins in the dark.**

**I couldn't explain things to Tyson. He knew I was sad. He knew I wanted to go on a trip and Tantalus wouldn't let me.**

**"You will go anyway?" he asked.**

**"I don't know," I admitted. "It would be hard. Very hard."**

**"I will help."**

**"No. I—uh, I couldn't ask you to do that, big guy. Too dangerous.**

"You're too overprotective Percy." Thalia said.

Nico nodded and swallowed down another sugar cube. "When you grow up you'll be like a first alarm father. Your kids won't even finish saying the first syllable in daddy and you'll be there in a heartbeat."

Percy blushed scarlet while Thalia and Nico laughed at his reaction.

**Tyson looked down at the pieces of metal he was assembling in his lap—springs and gears and tiny wires. Beckendorf had given him some tools and spare parts, and now Tyson spent every night tinkering, though I wasn't sure how his huge hands could handle such delicate little pieces.**

**"What are you building?" I asked.**

**Tyson didn't answer. Instead he made a whimpering sound in the back of his throat. "Annabeth doesn't like Cyclopes. You ... don't want me along?"**

**"Oh, that's not it," I said halfheartedly. "Annabeth likes you. Really."**

Annabeth bit her lower lip and waited for Travis to continue.

**He had tears in the corners of his eye.**

**I remembered that Grover, like all satyrs, could read human emotions. I wondered if Cyclopes had the same ability.**

Everyone turned to Poseidon. "Tyson can't really read emotions, I think. It's probably just that you're not really controlling your facial expressions."

**Tyson folded up his tinkering project in an oilcloth. He lay down on his bunk bed and hugged his bundle like a teddy bear. **

**When he turned toward the wall, I could see the weird scars on his back, like somebody had plowed over him with a tractor.**

**I wondered for the millionth time how he'd gotten hurt.**

Percy grimaced and remembered how he got attacked by the sphinx.

**"Daddy always cared for m-me," he sniffled. "Now ... I think he was mean to have a Cyclops boy. I should not have been born."**

Poseidon's heart nearly cracked. "Are we really that much of horrible parents?" Hermes asked. All of the deities shifted in their seats or looked at the demigods on the floor.

"You're not horrible." Connor said. "You're just not always there when we need you."

"Or for those milestones in our lives." Travis nodded.

"When we need judgment." Chris said with a sour taste in his mouth.

"When the entire world backfires on us." Thalia sighed and Jason and Leo nodded.

"When our mortal parent doesn't understand." Annabeth muttered and Piper nodded.

"Or when everything you ever really cared about is taken away from you." Nico said whistfully.

"When we look for approval." Percy added.

"But no." Katie said. "Not horrible." The deities grimaced and glanced at each other in worry.

...

**"Don't talk that way! Poseidon claimed you, didn't he? So ... he must care about you ... a lot..."**

**My voice trailed off as I thought about all those years Tyson had lived on the streets of New York in a cardboard refrigerator box. How could Tyson think that Poseidon had cared for him? What kind of dad let that happen to his kid, even if his kid was a monster?**

Poseidon winced.

**"Tyson ... camp will be a good home for you. The others will get used to you. I promise."**

**Tyson sighed. I waited for him to say something. Then I realized he was already asleep.**

**I lay back on my bed and tried to close my eyes, but I just couldn't. I was afraid I might have another dream about Grover. If the empathy link was real ... if something happened to Grover ... would I ever wake up?**

Annabeth intelaced her fingers with Percy's.

**The full moon shone through my window. The sound of the surf rumbled in the distance. I could smell the warm scent of the strawberry fields, and hear the laughter of the dryads as they chased owls **

Athena's grimace increased.

**through the forest. But something felt wrong about the night—the sickness of Thalia's tree, spreading across the valley.**

**Could Clarisse save Half-Blood Hill? I thought the odds were better of me getting a "Best Camper" award from Tantalus.**

"Wow," Clarisse said half-heartedly. "Thanks a lot Jackson."

Percy shrugged half-heartedly also. After that whole explanation they had given to their parents he felt like his energy had depleted drastically. Even Nico didn't seem to be so excited to eat his sugar cubes anymore. He was sharing with Connor.

**I got out of bed and pulled on some clothes. I grabbed a beach blanket and a six-pack of Coke from under my bunk. The Cokes were against the rules. No outside snacks or drinks were allowed, but if you talked to the right guy in Hermes's cabin **

The Stolls smiled at each other mischeviously.

**and paid him a few golden drachma, he could smuggle in almost anything from the nearest convenience store.**

**Sneaking out after curfew was against the rules, too. If I got caught I'd either get in big trouble or be eaten by the harpies. **

"I think I'd rather have been eatened by a harpy instead." Chris said and all of the demigods nodded.

**But I wanted to see the ocean. I always felt better there. My thoughts were clearer. I left the cabin and headed for the beach.**

Poseidon smiled slightly.

**I spread my blanket near the surf and popped open a Coke. For some reason sugar and caffeine always calmed down my hyperactive brain. I tried to decide what to do to save the camp, but nothing came to me. I wished Poseidon would talk to me, give me some advice or something. **

_Never there when I need advice._ Percy thought.

**The sky was clear and starry. I was checking out the constellations Annabeth had taught me—**

"So you actually listen to me?" Annabeth whispered to him.

"Of course I do. I like to." Percy whispered. "Besides if I didn't listen to you you'd probably kick my butt."

"True."

**Sagittarius, Hercules, Corona Borealis—**

"Borealis?" Piper asked.

"Yeah." Annabeth answered.

Piper shivered. The North Wind had a constellation named after him?

**when somebody said, "Beautiful, aren't they?"**

"The stranger?" Leo asked.

"Yeah." Percy said.

**I almost spewed soda.**

**Standing right next to me was a guy in nylon running shorts and a New York City Marathon T-shirt. He was slim and fit, with salt-and-pepper hair and a sly smile. **

"Hey that's me!" Hermes smiled. "I'm in there? I'm the stranger? Awesome!"

His behavior brought some smiles to the demigods.

**He looked kind of familiar, but I couldn't figure out why.**

**My first thought was that he must've been taking a midnight jog down the beach and strayed inside the camp borders. That wasn't supposed to happen. Regular mortals couldn't enter the valley. **

**But maybe with the tree's magic weakening he'd managed to slip in. But in the middle of the night? And there was nothing around except farmland and state preserves. Where would this guy have jogged from?**

"My first instinct would be to run." Nico said. "Very far. Perferably to the borders of Mexico and gain entrance there. 'Cause if it was me I would've thought he was a serial killer. No offense Hermes but Demeter_ is_ your aunt."

"I'm not a serial killer!"

"None taken." Hermes replied.

**"May I join you?" he asked. "I haven't sat down in ages."**

Hermes grunted. _Just sitting down here to read this book is a vacation._

**Now, I know—a strange guy in the middle of the night. Common sense: I was supposed to run away, yell for help, etc. But the guy acted so calm about the whole thing that I found it hard to be afraid.**

Nico nodded. "Borders of Mexico. It's safe there. Kind of, maybe, a little... At least you'll be away from the stranger."

**I said, "Uh, sure."**

**He smiled. "Your hospitality does you credit. Oh, and Coca-Cola! May I?"**

**He sat at the other end of the blanket, popped a soda and took a drink. "Ah ... that hits the spot. Peace and quiet at—"**

**A cell phone went off in his pocket.**

Hermes sighed. "And of course I spoke too soon. Can I never have a break?"

Nico knit his eyebrows. "How come George and Martha aren't talking now?"

"I put them on vibrate." Hermes said. "They were giving me a migraine yesterday after we stopped reading so I put them on vibrate and forgot to take them off. In fact, my phones vibrating now."

"Are you going to answer it?" Demeter asked.

"I still have my migraine."

"Who is it anyways?" Artemis asked. Hermes sighed and checked his phone. "It's Hera."

...

"Oh well. Continue Travis." The other gods snickered at his reaction.

"Hermes!" Zeus said half-heartedly.

"What? I'm not very fond of my dear stepmother and you know that. She can wait until we finish reading. It won't kill her. Continue Travis."

**The jogger sighed. He pulled out his phone and my eyes got big, because it glowed with a bluish light. When he extended the antenna, two creatures began writhing around it—green snakes, no bigger than earthworms.**

**The jogger didn't seem to notice. **

**He checked his LCD display and cursed. "I've got to take this. Just a sec ..." **

"I never get a break." Hermes sighed.

**Then into the phone: "Hello?"**

**He listened. The mini-snakes writhed up and down the antenna right next to his ear.**

**"Yeah," the jogger said. "Listen—I know, but... I don't care if he **_**is **_**chained to a rock with vultures pecking at his liver, if he doesn't have a tracking number, we can't locate his package... A gift to humankind, great... **

Zeus frowned.

**You know how many of those we deliver—Oh, never mind. Listen, just refer him to Eris in customer service. I gotta go."**

**He hung up. "Sorry. The overnight express business is just booming. Now, as I was saying—"**

**"You have snakes on your phone."**

**"What? Oh, they don't bite. Say hello, George and Martha."**

_**Hello, George and Martha, **_**a raspy male voice said inside my head.**

_**Don't be sarcastic, **_**said a female voice.**

_**Why not? **_**George demanded. **_**I do all the **_**real **_**work.**_

Hermes rolled his eyes.

**"Oh, let's not go into that again!" The jogger slipped his phone back into his pocket. "Now, where were we ... Ah, yes. Peace and quiet."**

**He crossed his ankles and stared up at the stars. "Been a long time since I've gotten to relax. Ever since the telegraph—rush, rush, rush. Do you have a favorite constellation, Percy?"**

**I was still kind of wondering about the little green snakes he'd shoved into his jogging shorts, but I said, "Uh, I like Hercules."**

Zeus smirked at Poseidon. "See that Poseidon? Even your son admires Hercules."

Poseidon just glared at him until Travis started reading again.

**"Why?"**

**"Well ... because he had rotten luck. Even worse than mine. It makes me feel better."**

Zeus's smirk fell off his face while Poseidon smiled at him.

**The jogger chuckled. "Not because he was strong and famous and all that?"**

**"No."**

**"You're an interesting young man. And so, what now?"**

**I knew immediately what he was asking. What did I intend to do about the Fleece?**

**Before I could answer, Martha the snake's muffled voice came from his pocket: **_**I have Demeter on line two.**_

Demeter eyed Hermes as if daring him not to answer her.

**"Not now," the jogger said. "Tell her to leave a message."**

Hermes cringed at the look Demeter gave him.

_**She's not going to like that. The last time you put her off, all the flowers in the floral delivery division wilted.**_

Demeter snapped her fingers. "Oh they just wilted." She said. "Good luck getting them back to normal." She smirked at Hermes's frown.

**"Just tell her I'm in a meeting!" **

**The jogger rolled his eyes. "Sorry again, Percy. You were saying ..."**

**"Um ... who are you, exactly?"**

**"Haven't you guessed by now, a smart boy like you?"**

_**Show him! **_**Martha pleaded**_**. I haven't been full-size for months.**_

_**Don't listen to her! **_**George said. **_**She just wants to show off!**_

**The man took out his phone again. "Original form, please."**

**The phone glowed a brilliant blue. It stretched into a three-foot-long wooden staff with dove wings sprouting out the top. George and Martha, now full-sized green snakes, coiled together around the middle. **

Hermes smiled and decided to bring Martha and George out. They might have been on punishment but they really hadn't been full size for a while. When he brought out the caduceus all of the demigods stared at it enraptrued for a while.

**It was a caduceus, the symbol of Cabin Eleven.**

**My throat tightened. I realized who the jogger reminded me of with his elfish features, the mischievous twinkle in his eyes...**

**"You're Luke's father," I said. "Hermes."**

Hermes frowned and cringed at how Percy introduced him.

**The god pursed his lips. He stuck his caduceus in the sand like an umbrella pole. "'Luke's father.' Normally, that's not the first way people introduce me. God of thieves, yes. God of messengers and travellers, if they wish to be kind."**

_**God of thieves works, **_**George said.**

Apollo smiled. "I like George."

The caduceus glowed a little brighter. _Why thank you, Lord Apollo. _George hissed.

_You do realize that people introduce Hermes as God of thieves when they want to be mean right? _Martha asked.

_What's your point? G_eorge asked.

_Oh never mind. _Martha hissed._ Besides you're giving Hermes an even bigger headache._

_**Oh, don't mind George. **_**Martha flicked her tongue at me. **_**He's just bitter because Hermes likes me best.**_

_**He does not!**_

_**Does too!**_

_Does not!_

_Does too!_

_Does not!_

"Silence you two!" Hermes said. He turned them back into a phone and set them on vibrate.

**"Behave, you two," Hermes warned, "or I'll turn you back into a cell phone and set you on vibrate! Now, Percy, you still haven't answered my question. What do you intend to do about the quest?"**

**"I—I don't have permission to go."**

"Since when has that ever stopped you?" Thalia smirked at Percy.

"Not once." Percy replied.

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. "You mean you're going to sneak out?" When no one answered he merely sighed. "Oh great."

Athena smirked at him. At least Annabeth wouldn't be going along with the sea spawn this time.

**"No, indeed. Will that stop you?"**

"No."

**"I want to go. I have to save Grover."**

**Hermes smiled. "I knew a boy once ... oh, younger than you by far. A mere baby, really."**

"Oh no." Zeus grimaced. "Here we go again."

"Mm." Apollo glared at Hermes. He knew this speech all too well.

"Can we just skip this part then?" Nico asked.

"Shh!" Travis told Nico. "I want to hear dad's story."

"But-"

"Shh!"

_**Here we go again, **_**George said. **_**Always talking about himself.**_

_**Quiet! **_**Martha snapped. **_**Do you want to get set on vibrate?**_

**Hermes ignored them. "One night, when this boy's mother wasn't watching, he sneaked out of their cave and stole some cattle that belonged to Apollo."**

"Thanks for reminding me." Apollo's glare did not ease up at all.

"No problem bro." Hermes swallowed hard and hoped something would interrupt him and he wouldn't finish the story.

**"Did he get blasted to tiny pieces?" I asked.**

"He probably should've." Apollo grumbled.

**"Hmm ... no. Actually, everything turned out quite well. To make up for his theft, the boy gave Apollo an instrument he'd invented—a lyre. Apollo was so enchanted with the music that he forgot all about being angry."**

"I remember now."

"Oh great joy."

**"So what's the moral?"**

Hermes knit his eyebrows together. "Is there _supposed_ to be a moral? It's not really a story for morals, just one you can tell."

"Then why'd you tell him that story?" Katie asked.

"Because he likes to brag about stealing Apollo's sheep." Artemis said. "It's his greatest achievement ever."

"It is not!" Hermes scoffed. "I've had so many more achievements than that. It's just that this is my _first_ achievement."

"Even though you got caught?" Poseidon asked.

"Well, yeah." Hermes nodded.

"Then why do you tell that story?" Athena asked.

"I... uh... well I don't have to have a reason! I can just do it. I have freedom of speech!" Hermes humphed.

"Alright Uncle Sam." Zeus rolled his eyes. "Be quiet so we can finish the rest of this chapter."

**"The moral?" Hermes asked. "Goodness, you act like it's a fable. It's a true story. Does truth have a moral?"**

**"Um ..."**

Hermes smirked. "There, that's why a I tell that story."

"I still don't get it." Nico said. "Me neither." Connor said. They both shoved another sugar cube into their mouths and waited for Travis to read.

**"How about this: stealing is not always bad?"**

"See!" Travis grinned. "I told you!"

Katie rolled her eyes. "Just because the god of _thieves_ says that doesn't mean it's true."

"Um..." Travis looked at her in the eyes. "_Yeah, _it does."

"_No,_ it doesn't."

"Yes it does."

"No it doesn't."

"Yes it does!"

"No it doesn't!"

Connor shook his head at the couple. "I don't get why those two are arguing."

Rachel nodded her head. "Katie is obviously right."

Connor turned to her abruptly. "No she isn't."

"Yeah she is."

"No she isn't!"

"Yes she is!"

"No she isn't!"

"Oh my gods." Piper muttered.

"Can you guys quiet down!" Jason yelled. The four demigods didn't seem to notice him and continued arguing.

"Hermes," Zeus said. "You started this. Fix it."

Hermes smiled mischeviously and snapped his fingers. A glass dome with small holes all over it appeared over Connor, Travis, Katie, and Rachel's heads and their voices were automatically muffled.

"Why'd you do that?" Hades asked.

"I want to see who wins the fight." Hermes said. "I've never seen so many people argue over this subject with such determination."

"Whatever." Hades said. "Who's going to read now?"

"I'll read." Nico replied. He picked up the book from where Travis had dropped it when he had started arguing with Katie and continued reading.

**"I don't think my mom would like that moral."**

Poseidon grinned. "No, Sally wouldn't appreciate that at all."

_**Rats are delicious, **_**suggested George.**

_**What does that have to do with the story? **_**Martha demanded.**

_**Nothing, **_**George said. **_**But I'm hungry.**_

"George is so random." Nico said with a smile.

"That's why I like him." Apollo said.

**"I've got it," Hermes said. "Young people don't always do what they're told, but if they can pull it off and do something wonderful, sometimes they escape punishment. How's that?"**

Poseidon sighed. "And now he's going to go and get himself into danger. Thank you Hermes."

"You're welcome."

"I was using sarcasm."

"I know. I'm ignoring it."

**"You're saying I should go anyway," I said, "even without permission."**

**Hermes's eyes twinkled. "Martha, may I have the first package, please?"**

**Martha opened her mouth ... and kept opening it until it was as wide as my arm. She belched out a stainless steel canister—an old-fashioned lunch box thermos with a black plastic top. The sides of the thermos were enameled with red and yellow Ancient Greek scenes—a hero killing a lion; a hero lifting up Cerberus, the three-headed dog.**

"Hercules." Thalia muttered. She remembered what happened to Zoey after Percy had told her.

**"That's Hercules," I said. "But how—"**

**"Never question a gift," Hermes chided. "This is a collector's item from **_**Hercules Busts Heads. **_**The first season."**

_**"Hercules Busts Heads?"**_

Hephaestus grinned. "Epic show."

"Indeed." Poseidon nodded.

**"Great show." Hermes sighed. "Back before Hephaestus-TV was all reality programming. Of course, the thermos would be worth much more if I had the whole lunch box—"**

_**Or if it hadn't been in Martha's mouth, **_**George added.**

The Stolls stopped arguing for a moment to chuckle at George's joke while Katie and Rachel exchanged incredulous looks.

_**I'll get you for that. **_**Martha began chasing him around the caduceus.**

**"Wait a minute," I said. "This is a gift?"**

**"One of two," Hermes said. "Go on, pick it up."**

**I almost dropped it because it was freezing cold on one side and burning hot on the other. The weird thing was, when I turned the thermos, the side facing the ocean— north—was always the cold side...**

**"It's a compass!" I said.**

**Hermes looked surprised. "Very clever. I never thought of that. **

"After thousands of years with that thing you never thought of that?" Artemis asked.

Hermes shrugged. "It never came to me."

**But its intended use is a bit more dramatic. Uncap it, and you will release the winds from the four corners of the earth to speed you on your way. **

"It would've been an epic fail if you had released the winds right there." Leo said.

Hermes nodded. "That would've completely defeated the purpose of that gift."

"And made me look like a complete idiot." Percy said.

**Not now! And please, when the time comes, only unscrew the lid a tiny bit. The winds are a bit like me—always restless. Should all four escape at once ... ah, but I'm sure you'll be careful. **

"You're telling this to a demigod." Dionysus said. "Since when are they _ever_ careful?"

"We could be careful." Leo said. "If trouble didn't come to us all the time."

"Yeah," Percy nodded. "It's not exactly our fault."

**And now my second gift. George?"**

_**She's touching me, **_**George complained as he and Martha slithered around the pole.**

**"She's **_**always **_**touching you," Hermes said. "You're intertwined. And if you don't stop that, you'll get knotted again!**

Hermes sighed.

**The snakes stopped wrestling.**

**George unhinged his jaw and coughed up a little plastic bottle filled with chewable vitamins.**

**"You're kidding," I said. "Are those Minotaur-shaped?"**

Percy frowned. _Stupid bulls._

**Hermes picked up the bottle and rattled it. "The lemon ones, yes. The grape ones are Furies, I think. Or are they hydras? **

"Or are they Nemean Lions?" Hermes thought.

**At any rate, these are potent. Don't take one unless you really, really need it."**

**"How will I know if I really, really need it?"**

**"You'll know, believe me. Nine essential vitamins, minerals, amino acids ... oh, everything you need to feel your self again."**

Athena nodded. That would be good if anything came up.

Annabeth smirked at Percy. "Everything you need to feel your self again, right Percy?" She whispered.

He rolled his eyes and blushed a little. "Yeah, yeah. Don't rub it in so much. They're all going to be already laughing at me when that part comes."

**He tossed me the bottle.**

**"Um, thanks," I said. "But Lord Hermes, why are you helping me?"**

**He gave me a melancholy smile. "Perhaps because I hope that you can save many people on this quest, Percy. Not just your friend Grover."**

**I stared at him. "You don't mean ... **_**Luke?"**_

Some people sent sympathetic looks to Percy.

**Hermes didn't answer.**

**"Look," I said. "Lord Hermes, I mean, thanks and everything, but you might as well take back your gifts. Luke can't be saved. Even if I could find him ... he told me he wanted to tear down Olympus stone by stone. He betrayed everybody he knew. He—he hates you especially."**

Hermes flinched and looked at the group of demigods. Thalia had her lips pursed and was staring into space while Connor and Travis had stopped arguing momentarily. Percy held Annabeth's hands because she had become rigid at Luke's mention.

**Hermes gazed up at the stars. "My dear young cousin, if there's one thing I've learned over the eons, it's that you **_**can't **_**give up on your family, no matter how tempting they make it. **

Hermes sighed. "Hera has gotten to me, hasn't she?"

"Yeah." The deities chorused.

**It doesn't matter if they hate you, or embarrass you, or simply don't appreciate your genius for inventing the Internet—"**

The deities rolled their eyes or sent Hermes annoyed looks.

**"You invented the Internet?"**

_**It was my idea, **_**Martha said.**

"It was _my_ idea!" Hermes said. "Why does she always try to take it?"

"Maybe because it _wasn't_ your idea." Demeter rolled her eyes.

"Yes it was!"

"No it wasn't!"

Zeus shivered. "They're like mini versions of Katie and Travis."

The two gods stopped arguing and glared at Zeus.

_**Rats are delicious, **_**George said.**

**"It was **_**my **_**idea!" Hermes said. "I mean the Internet, not the rats. But that's not the point. Percy, do you understand what I'm saying about family?"**

**"I—I'm not sure."**

**"You will some day." Hermes got up and brushed the sand off his legs. **

"Do you understand now?" Hermes asked.

"For the most part, yeah." Percy replied.

**"In the meantime, I must be going."**

_**You have sixty calls to return, **_**Martha said.**

_**And one thousand-thirty-eight e-mails, **_**George added. **_**Not counting the offers for online discount ambrosia.**_

Hermes smiled at the horrified looks all around the room. _Of course they didn't have to deal with that. _He had to admit though, usually he had one or two hundred less emails to deal with. He'd have to start working harder if one meeting with a demigod could push him back that far.

**"And you, Percy," Hermes said, "have a shorter deadline than you realize to complete your quest. Your friends should be coming right about ... now."**

**I heard Annabeth's voice calling my name from the sand dunes. **

The relief that had recently flooded Athena's face fell off.

**Tyson, too, was shouting from a little bit farther away.**

_Oh great, _Poseidon thought.

**"I hope I packed well for you," Hermes said. "I do have some experience with travel."**

"That's an understatement." Hephaestus muttered.

**He snapped his fingers and three yellow duffel bags appeared at my feet. "Waterproof, of course. If you ask nicely, your father should be able to help you reach the ship."**

"Ship?" Poseidon asked. "I mean I'll help, but what ship?"

"I don't know." Hermes said. "This is the future me."

**"Ship?"**

**Hermes pointed. Sure enough, a big cruise ship was cutting across Long Island Sound, its white-and-gold lights glowing against the dark water.**

Almost all of the demigods flinched.

**"Wait," I said. "I don't understand any of this. I haven't even agreed to go!"**

**"I'd make up your mind in the next five minutes, if I were you," Hermes advised. "That's when the harpies will come to eat you. Now, good night, cousin, and dare I say it? May the gods go with you."**

"You don't really have a choice." Piper said.

"We don't really ever have one." Annabeth said. "We just have to do it."

"I suppose," Nico stated. "If we had a choice we might not really be where we are today. Not that where we are today is that great."

"At least it's somewhere." Thalia said.

**He opened his hand and the caduceus flew into it.**

_**Good luck, **_**Martha told me.**

_**Bring me back a rat, **_**George said.**

"Did you ever bring George a rat?" Travis asked from within the dome.

"I never really got a chance to get one." Percy said.

Travis pouted a little and then he shrugged. "Sucks for George." Then he turned to Katie. "Does too!"

"Does not!"

**The caduceus changed into a cell phone and Hermes slipped it into his pocket.**

**He jogged off down the beach. Twenty paces away, he shimmered and vanished, leaving me alone with a thermos, a bottle of chewable vitamins, and five minutes to make an impossible decision.**

"Well," Nico said. "That ended dramatically."

Percy shrugged. "I may have thought all of this but I didn't arrange it like this."

Piper looked at the glass dome. "How long do you think they'll be fighting?"

Chris smirked. "That's easy. Wait until Connor or Travis say the wrong thing and then the girls will throw the first punch. After that wait a couple of minutes and Travis and Connor will have their mouths shut for a long time."

* * *

><p><strong>Review if you feel like it. This might be the last chapter before Christmas. Happy holidays!<strong>

**Erudite19**


	8. We Board the Princess Andromeda

"I guess it's my turn to read." Clarisse sighed. Nico handed her the book and she turned it to the right page.

"**We Board the **_**Princess Andromeda**_**," **Clarisse read. She along with most of the demigods flinched. Chris became rigid in his seat. Jason, Leo, and Piper noticed how all of the other demigods became tense and wondered what was wrong. Poseidon narrowed his eyes at the behaviors that the demigods exhibited. What kind of ship did Hermes send his son on?

**I was staring at the waves when Annabeth and Tyson found me.**

"So mysterious." Nico muttered in the middle of biting another sugar cube.

**"What's going on?" Annabeth asked. "I heard you calling for help!"**

**"Me, too!" Tyson said. "Heard you yell, 'Bad things are attacking!'"**

"So that's how you got them to come." Athena said to Hermes with a sour look on his face.

Hermes shrugged. "I guess." He had noticed the kids' behavior too and was worried about where he had sent Percy and his friends.

**"I didn't call you guys," I said. "I'm fine."**

"You really had me scared there." Annabeth told Percy. "I thought you were brainwashed and were working for Kronos. I thought you were going to betray me."

Percy turned to her with a serious face. "Why would you ever think like that?"

"I don't think you noticed Percy but you seemed pretty creepy and eerie when Tyson and I arrived at the beach and you said you were fine when I heard you calling for help." Annabeth said. "It sounded extremely like a trick."

He grabbed her hand. "I'd never do that to you Annabeth."

"I know," She admitted. "But after what happened with Luke and Thalia-"

"You didn't know if you could really trust anyone."

"No." He squeezed her hand reassuringly. "Do you trust me?"

"Completely."

"Good." They tuned back into Clarisse's voice.

**"But then who ..." Annabeth noticed the three yellow duffel bags, then the thermos and the bottle of vitamins I was holding. "What—"**

**"Just listen," I said. "We don't have much time."**

**I told them about my conversation with Hermes. By the time I was finished, I could hear screeching in the distance—patrol harpies picking up our scent. **

"I really don't want to clean up after the harpies." Dionysus sighed. "Or have to hear the head harpy's report and have her flesh scented breath blast in my face so if you three would hurry up and get on the ship that would be greatly appreciated."

Poseidon didn't feel like glaring at Dionysus because he wanted Percy, Annabeth, and Tyson to get on the ship fast too. He didn't want the waves to lap up Percy's blood.

**"Percy," Annabeth said, "we have to do the quest."**

**"We'll get expelled, you know. Trust me, I'm an expert at getting expelled."**

"Then what's so different this time?" Leo asked.

"Getting expelled from a place you actually like." Percy said.

Leo thought about it for a while. "I guess."

**"So? If we fail, there won't be any camp to come back to."**

**"Yeah, but you promised Chiron—"**

**"I promised I'd keep you from danger. I can only do that by coming with you! **

**Tyson can stay behind and tell them—"**

**"I want to go," Tyson said.**

**"No!" Annabeth's voice sounded close to panic. "I mean ... Percy, come on. You know that's impossible."**

**I wondered again why she had such a grudge against Cyclopes. There was something she wasn't telling me.**

"Will this conversation ever end?" Leo asked. "Will they ever get on that cruise ship? Will we ever find out what Annabeth's hiding? Will Thalia ever stop glaring at me? Will I ever stop asking these questions? Will Thalia ever stop threatening me so I can shut up? Will... oh. Sorry. Continue Clarisse."

**She and Tyson both looked at me, waiting for an answer. Meanwhile, the cruise ship was getting farther and farther away.**

"You must decide." Zeus said frantically. Even though Thalia was here Zeus was really anxious to have Jackson and his friends get on the ship.

**The thing was, part of me didn't want Tyson along. I'd spent the last three days in close quarters with the guy, getting razzed by the other campers and embarrassed a million times a day, constantly reminded that I was related to him. I needed some space.**

**Plus, I didn't know how much help he'd be, or how I'd keep him safe. Sure, he was strong, but Tyson was a little kid in Cyclops terms, maybe seven or eight years old, mentally. I could see him freaking out and starting to cry while we were trying to sneak past a monster or something. He'd get us all killed.**

"Tyson is very capable of himself." Poseidon said. "He's a strong boy. I believe in him."

"You mean cyclops." Apollo said.

"What?"

"You said he was a strong boy, he's a cyclops."

"Whatever."

**On the other hand, the sound of the harpies was getting closer...**

**"We can't leave him," I decided. "Tantalus will punish him for us being gone."**

**"Percy," Annabeth said, trying to keep her cool, "we're going to Polyphemus's island! Polyphemus is an S-i-k ... a C-y-k . .." **

The kids chuckled at Annabeth's discomfort. Percy hid the amused look on his face when Annabeth glanced at him.

**She stamped her foot in frustration. As smart as she was, Annabeth was dyslexic, too. We could've been there all night while she tried to spell Cyclops. **

"Or all week." Leo muttered. "OW! Jeez Piper, your punches hurt you know."

"You try spelling cylops." Piper said.

Leo narrowed his eyes at her. "Fine, how hard can it be? S-y-c... C-i-k... S-y-k... Oh alright. I get it."

Annabeth smirked at him. "Read Clarisse."

**"You know what I mean!"**

**"Tyson can go," I insisted, "if he wants to."**

**Tyson clapped his hands. "Want to!"**

**Annabeth gave me the evil eye, but I guess she could tell I wasn't going to change my mind. Or maybe she just knew we didn't have time to argue.**

"We didn't have time to argue." Annabeth said and crushed Percy's smirk.

**"All right," she said. "How do we get to that ship?"**

**"Hermes said my father would help."**

**"Well then, Seaweed Brain? What are you waiting for?"**

**I'd always had a hard time calling on my father, ****or praying, or whatever you want to call it, but I stepped into the waves.**

**"Urn, Dad?" I called. "How's it going?"**

A light chuckle spread through the room.

**"Percy!" Annabeth whispered. "We're in a hurry!"**

**"We need your help," I called a little louder. "We need to get to that ship, like, before we get eaten and stuff, so ..."**

"Very subtle Percy." Poseidon grinned.

**At first, nothing happened. Waves crashed against the shore like normal. The harpies sounded like they were right behind the sand dunes. Then, about a hundred yards out to sea, three white lines appeared on the surface. They moved fast toward the shore, like claws ripping through the ocean.**

Poseidon's grin increased. _Oh great! He was sending the hippocampi! _He wondered how Tyson would react to them. Then a thought occured. If he hadn't sent a bigger hippocampi then Tyson would be stuck on the beach with the harpies and get in trouble with Tantalus... Why'd he have to be such a pessimist?

**As they neared the beach, the surf burst apart and the heads of three white stallions reared out of the waves.**

"What?"

"Oh my gods!" Nico nearly yelled. "You're going to die! You're getting attacked by demon horses from the sea! Why Annabeth? Why couldn't you protect Percy? The end of the world is coming! The titan lord will take control...!"

"Oh great." Jason said. "How do we shut him up now?"

Thalia smirked. She took a sugar cube from Nico's pile and stuffed it in his mouth. "Continue Clarisse."

**Tyson caught his breath. "Fish ponies!"**

Poseidon knit his eyebrows while everyone else laughed. "Fish Ponies?"

**He was right. As the creatures pulled themselves onto the sand, I saw that they were only horses in the front; their back halves were silvery fish bodies, with glistening scales and rainbow tail fins.**

"I want to see them!" Nico exclaimed.

"You did." Percy said. "When we were going back to camp before Rachel became the oracle."

"Oh yeah. Mine was epic." Nico said as he shoved another sugar cube into his mouth.

**"Hippocampi!" Annabeth said. "They're beautiful."**

**The nearest one whinnied in appreciation and nuzzled Annabeth.**

Athena frowned a little. _Of course she just keeps finding ways to get closer to the sea._

**"We'll admire them later," I said. "Come on!"**

**"There!" a voice screeched behind us. "Bad children out of cabins! Snack time for lucky harpies!"**

**Five of them were fluttering over the top of the dunes—plump little hags with pinched faces and talons and feathery wings too small for their bodies. They reminded me of miniature cafeteria ladies who'd been crossbred with dodo birds. **

"Ew."

**They weren't very fast, thank the gods, but they were vicious if they caught you.**

**"Tyson!" I said. "Grab a duffel bag!"**

**He was still staring at the hippocampi with his mouth hanging open, "Tyson!"**

"Oh great." Poseidon muttered.

**"Uh?"**

**"Come on!"**

**With Annabeth's help I got him moving. We gathered the bags and mounted our steeds. Poseidon must've known Tyson was one of the passengers, because one hippocampus was much larger than the other two—just right for carrying a Cyclops.**

Poseidon sighed in relief.

**"Giddyup!" I said. My hippocampus turned and plunged into the waves. Annabeth's and Tyson's followed right behind.**

**The harpies cursed at us, wailing for their snacks to come back,**

"I wonder how we taste to monsters." Leo muttered.

"What do you mean?" Annabeth asked.

"Like, do monsters enjoy blood between their teeth or how do they eat us?" Leo asked.

"Where'd you get that idea from?" Percy asked.

"There was this monster that wanted to eat us when we went on a quest." Piper explained. "She wouldn't eat us without salsa dip."

Nico thought about it for a while. "She has good taste if she used salsa dip. Though, I don't know how that would appeal to her mixed in with the blood and flesh and-"

"That's enough Nico." Apollo said with a sour look on his face.

"What kind of dip was she going to use?" Jason asked.

...

"What? I wasn't exactly conscious when she was preparing to eat us. Besides, I'm kind of curious."

Connor shrugged from inside the dome. "You know, if I ever die by a monster I hope I'm cooked well... with mangos, golden mangos." He exchanged looks with his brother and they chuckled.

"Mangos?" Leo asked.

"Don't ask." Clarisse said.

The Stolls stopped chuckling at Piper's glare.

**but the hippocampi raced over the water at the speed of Jet Skis. The harpies fell behind, and soon the shore of Camp Half-Blood was nothing but a dark smudge. I wondered if I'd ever see the place again. **

"That's not a bad idea Jackson." Dionysus mused. "I'd have less responsibility that way and would probably be sent back to-"

Zeus sighed. "Dionysus, you know I'm right here and can hear your plan right?"

"Epic fail."

**But right then I had other problems.**

**The cruise ship was now looming in front of us—our ride toward Florida and the Sea of Monsters.**

**Riding the hippocampus was even easier than riding a pegasus. **

**We zipped along with the wind in our faces, speeding through the waves so smooth and steady I hardly needed to hold on at all.**

"I wanna try." Travis said. "It sounds fun and exhilarating and death-defying."

"So are our lives." Nico interrupted.

"What's your point?"

**As we got closer to the cruise ship, I realized just how huge it was. I felt as though I were looking up at a building in Manhattan. The white hull was at least ten stories tall, topped with another dozen levels of decks with brightly lit balconies and portholes. The ship's name was painted just above the bow line in black letters, lit with a spotlight. It took me a few seconds to decipher it: **_**PRINCESS ANDROMEDA**_

The demigods flinched again. The gods took notice and wondered what was wrong. Apollo was about to ask but remembered that the demigods probably wouldn't answer so he stayed quiet.

**Attached to the bow was a huge masthead—a three-story-tall woman wearing a white Greek chiton, sculpted to look as if she were chained to the front of the ship. She was young and beautiful, with flowing black hair, but her expression was one of absolute terror. Why anybody would want a screaming princess on the front of their vacation ship, I had no idea. **

"Because they want to scare off the sea monsters?" Nico asked.

**I remembered the myth about Andromeda and how she had been chained to a rock by her own parents as a sacrifice to a sea monster. **

Poseidon flinched at the looks he got. "What?"

"You could've stopped the sea monster Poseidon." Aphrodite said.

"It's not like any one got hurt. Perseus rescued her remember." Poseidon said.

"Perseus?" Leo asked. He and Jason turned to Percy and grinned.

"Your whole name's _Perseus_?" Jason asked.

"He's not talking about me." Percy explained. "He's talking about the original Perseus."

"So you admit that your whole name's Perseus?" Leo pointed an accusing finger at Percy.

"Read Clarisse."

"No! Answer me!"

**Maybe she'd gotten too many F's on her report card or something. **

Almost everyone rolled their eyes. "Oh sure Percy," Thalia said sarcastically. "Because they've issued report cards in schools for five thousand years."

"Right... right?"

**Anyway, my name sake, Perseus, had saved her just in time and turned the sea monster to stone using the head of Medusa.**

_**That **_**Perseus always won. That's why my mom had named me after him, even though he was a son of Zeus and I was a son of Poseidon. **

Zeus set his jaw and huffed. "Which I never understood."

"It says it here." Clarisse stated.

**The original Perseus was one of the only heroes in the Greek myths who got a happy ending. The others died—betrayed, mauled, mutilated, poisoned, or cursed by the gods.**

Hades smiled. "All of them, happy endings."

Nico nodded in the middle of a sugar cube.

**My mom hoped I would inherit Perseus's luck. Judging by how my life was going so far, I wasn't real optimistic.**

Leo got up and started rubbing Percy's head. "What- OW!- are you doing?" Percy nearly screamed.

"Rubbing your head. Hopefully I'll inherit your luck too." Leo said.

Percy slapped his hand away. "That's not going to work."

"Yeah it is." Leo said. "All this time Annabeth was with you she was safe and then you go missing for eight months and everyone goes into an uproar-Annabeth the most. You're lucky Percy. And if I rub your head hard enough I might inherit some of your luck."

"What? Don't-"

"You know," Nico mused. "That _does_ make sense." He managed to move out of his sugar cube pile and walk over to Percy. He brushed the excess sugar on his hands off and reached for Percy's head.

"Nico you better not-Ahh! Your hands are cold!"

Ares shook his head. "You guys make no sense."

Percy sighed in relief. "Thank you Ares."

"That's not how you rub someone's head for good luck."

Percy groaned as Ares got up and walked towards him. "Not you too!"

"Quiet Jackson! Stop being so selfish and share some of your luck."

"How long are you guys going to rub my head?" Percy asked.

"Until we feel lucky." Ares declared. "Read Clarisse."

Percy turned to Annabeth and mouthed, _Help me!_

_No! Sorry._She mouthed back, stifling her laughter.

**"How do we get aboard?" Annabeth shouted over the noise of the waves, but the hippocampi seemed to know what we needed. They skimmed along the starboard side of the ship, riding easily through its huge wake, and pulled up next to a service ladder riveted to the side of the hull.**

**"You first," I told Annabeth.**

"Aw," Aphrodite cooed. "Percy's such a gentleman."

"Or maybe he's just doing that because there might be a monster on the ship and he figured better him than Annabeth." Ares said.

"If he had Clarisse would've read that in his thoughts already." Aphrodite replied.

"Well he could of thought it just didn't make it in the book." Ares said.

"Only insensitive _boys_ like you would think like that." Aphrodite huffed.

Ares's mouth hung open. "It's okay honey." Hephaestus soothed Aphrodite. "Just forget about what he said. Percy obviously didn't think that. Right Percy?"

"Of course." Annabeth smiled at Percy.

"See?" Hephaestus said. "Don't let Ares cloud your thoughts."

"But-?" Ares started. He was silenced by Aphrodite's glare. "Read Clarisse."

**She slung her duffel bag over her shoulder and grabbed the bottom rung. Once she'd hoisted herself onto the ladder, her hippocampus whinnied a farewell and dove under water. Annabeth began to climb. I let her get a few rungs up, then followed her.**

**Finally it was just Tyson in the water. His hippocampus was treating him to 360° aerials and backward ollies, and Tyson was laughing so hysterically, **

Poseidon smiled.

**the sound echoed up the side of the ship.**

**"Tyson, shhh!" I said. "Come on, big guy!"**

**"Can't we take Rainbow?" he asked, his smile fading.**

"Rainbow?"

"There's a rainbow at night?" Apollo asked, confused.

"No." Artemis said.

"So Iris is there?" Hermes asked.

"No." Percy said. "It's-"

"Then Fleecy's there?" Hephaestus said.

"Oh never mind." Percy gave up.

"Who's Fleecy?" Poseidon asked.

"Iris's helper, apprentice, whatever. You get what I mean." Zeus said.

**I stared at him. **_**"Rainbow?"**_

**The hippocampus whinnied as if he liked his new name.**

"Oh." Hermes said, a sly look on his face. "The hippocampus! Why didn't you say so before Percy?"

Percy sent Hermes an aggravated glare and told Clarisse to read.

**"Um, we have to go," I said. "Rainbow ... well, he can't climb ladders."**

"Way to state the obvious." Thalia said.

"It's not like Tyson knew." Percy said. "He wasn't that mature in cyclops years yet."

**Tyson sniffled. He buried his face in the hippocampus's mane. "I will miss you, Rainbow!"**

**The hippocampus made a neighing sound I could've sworn was crying.**

Apollo pouted. "That's s-so sad..." He blew his nose into a tishue.

"It's not _that_ sad Apollo." Aphrodite said with a concerned look on her face.

"Ahhemuhhuhuhuh!"

"What'd he say?" Artemis asked.

"I think that's his way of crying." Hermes said. "It's okay 'Pollo-"

"Marco!" Connor yelled.

Hermes grinned at his son for a second and then turned back to Apollo. He patted his back and said, "Tyson'll see Rainbow again. Don't worry."

"Okay." Apollo sniffed. "I believe you Hermes."

Hermes turned to Percy and held up a poster that said, _Tyson will see Rainbow right?_

Percy grinned. Maybe he could play with this. _No, _He mouthed._ Sorry Hermes._

Hermes paled considerably, his jaw slightly slack. Apollo was not going to like this.

**"Maybe we'll see him again sometime," I suggested.**

**"Oh, please!" Tyson said, perking up immediately. "Tomorrow!"**

**I didn't make any promises, but I finally convinced Tyson to say his farewells and grab hold of the ladder. With a final sad whinny, Rainbow the hippocampus did a back-flip and dove into the sea.**

**The ladder led to a maintenance deck stacked with yellow lifeboats. There was a set of locked double doors, which Annabeth managed to pry open with her knife and a fair amount of cursing in Ancient Greek.**

Nico tsked. "Annie, Annie, Annie. Don't you know it's not good to curse?" He disregarded Annabeth's glare and put another sugar cube in his mouth.

"Ahhh! Na pari i eychi! As to Thialo!" Nico rubbed the side of his cheek. "Stupid sharp sugar cube."

The gods stared at Nico in shock. Annabeth tsked at Nico while the rest of the kids held in their laughter. "Oh but Nicky, don't you know it's not good to curse?"

Nico's face flushed while all of the other kids released their laughter.

**I figured we'd have to sneak around, being stowaways and all, but after checking a few corridors and peering over a balcony into a huge central promenade lined with closed shops, I began to realize there was nobody to hide from. **

"It is at night." Piper said.

"Still," Leo said. "There should be some people there. Like, guards or lookouts."

Percy shrugged. "There was no one there. I wasn't arguing."

**I mean, sure it was the middle of the night, but we walked half the length of the boat and met no one. We passed forty or fifty cabin doors and heard no sound behind any of them.**

"Mexico..." Nico murmured.

**"It's a ghost ship," I murmured.**

**"No," Tyson said, fiddling with the strap of his duffel bag. "Bad smell."**

"Yup." Nico said. "Mexico."

"If only." Percy sighed.

"An entire ship filled with monsters." Leo said, not the slightest emotion on his face. "An entire ship filled with monsters!" Now he looked alarmed. He grabbed Jason by the collar. He was excited now, flames flicking through his hair and steam coming off his clothes. "Okay, the monsters need to find a way to get to you-no-where, right?"

Jason knit his eyebrows. "You-no-where?"

"The original place." Percy said. He put a hand over his mouth and mouthed _Greece and Rome_.

"Oh." Jason said. "Yeah."

"What are you talking about?" Athena asked.

"Nothing." They chorused.

"So anyways," Leo continued. "They'll need a way to get there right? They can't just fly over there or go by sea. So how _are _they going to get there?"

The group of demigods remained quiet for a moment before Percy said, "Sometimes the minor gods or goddesses listen to you-no-who. All the monsters need is one or two rogue goddesses and they can sail free. Unless they can't get one, then I don't know."

"Well thanks Percy," Leo grumbled. "Just crush all of my ideas, why don't you?"

"I'm just saying what could possibly happen. It wouldn't be the first time it's happened." Percy replied.

"What _are_ you talking about?" Apollo asked aggravated.

"Nothing, nothing." Leo said. "Read Leo."

**Annabeth frowned. "I don't smell anything."**

**"Cyclopes are like satyrs," I said. **

"Oh yes," Hermes said sarcastically. "Because cyclops have hairy hind legs and horns sticking from the top of their heads."

Percy rolled his eyes. "You get what I mean."

"It'd be so epic if they did." Chris said. "Like a cross-breeded monster. I would totally keep it as a pet." He had that sly look on his face that made you think that he could be completely playing around or completely serious. Clarisse still didn't know the difference between those two looks.

**"They can smell monsters. Isn't that right, Tyson?" **

**He nodded nervously. Now that we were away from Camp Half-Blood, the Mist **

Piper cringed. _Curse the stupid mist._

**had distorted his face again. Unless I concentrated very hard, it seemed that he had two eyes instead of one.**

**"Okay," Annabeth said. "So what exactly do you smell?"**

**"Something bad," Tyson answered.**

**"Great," Annabeth grumbled. "That clears it up."**

**We came outside on the swimming pool level. There were rows of empty deck chairs and a bar closed off with a chain curtain. The water in the pool glowed eerily, sloshing back and forth from the motion of the ship.**

"You know Percy, I'm starting to agree with Nico. What you're describing is extremely eerie and frightening and if I were you I'd get off the ship right there and use the hippocampi." Poseidon said. "Then when you get to Miami you could just 'borrow' a boat."

Percy shrugged. "It'd be too late by then."

"What'd be too late? It's not like there's anyone keeping you back from getting the fleece. Except for probably Clarisse." Poseidon said. Clarisse rolled her eyes.

"You'll find out soon." Percy said.

**Above us fore and aft were more levels—a climbing wall, a putt-putt golf course, a revolving restaurant, but no sign of life.**

Nico knit his eyebrows. "Why are you worrying about there being no sign of life? There's a putt-putt golf course!"

Percy rolled his eyes. "You're completely missing the point Nico."

"What's your point?"

"There's no sign of life." Percy replied.

"That's not the point! There's a revolving restaurant!" Nico said.

"And a climbing wall." Travis added.

"Yeah," Nico said. "But we have that at camp so it doesn't matter."

**And yet ... I sensed something familiar. Something dangerous. I had the feeling that if I weren't so tired and burned out on adrenaline from our long night, I might be able to put a name to what was wrong.**

Athena face-palmed. _There's goes any chance of them getting to safety._

**"We need a hiding place," I said. "Somewhere safe to sleep."**

**"Sleep," Annabeth agreed wearily.**

_Oh great. _Athena thought. _Even my own daughter is too tired to do anything._

**We explored a few more corridors until we found an empty suite on the ninth level. The door was open, which struck me as weird. **

**There was a basket of chocolate goodies on the table, an iced-down bottle of sparkling cider on the nightstand, and a mint on the pillow with a hand written note that said: **_**Enjoy your cruise!**_

Connor sucked in a breath. "Leave! Leave now while you have your brains and body!"

"What?"

Travis sighed. "We watched 'Vacancy' last night, you know that old movie, and he's been worried about it the whole time."

Connor pouted. "I don't want to go back to our old room. I don't want Mason to show up."

"Who's Mason?" Nico asked.

"The old, creepy guy who runs the motel." Connor said. "He helps orchestrate the _deaths. _You shouldn't let him come into your rooms tonight. How can you escape if they can see _everything_?"

Everyone in the room stared at Connor for a while. Some had bored expressions, some were slightly frightened and shakened while the others looked at Connor like he was slightly crazy.

"Read Clarisse." Thalia said.

**We opened our duffel bags for the first time and found that Hermes really had thought of everything—extra clothes, toiletries, camp rations, a Ziploc bag full of cash, a leather pouch full of golden drachmas. He'd even managed to pack Tyson's oilcloth with his tools and metal bits, and Annabeth's cap of invisibility, which made them both feel a lot better.**

_Maybe there is hope for my daughter then. _Zeus thought.

**"I'll be next door," Annabeth said. "You guys **_**don't **_**drink or eat anything."**

"So then they drink and eat everything?" Leo asked confused.

"I just said 'don't'." Annabeth said. "What part of don't, don't you understand?"

"I'm confused." Jason said.

"I am too." Percy nodded.

Apollo scratched his head. "I don't think she was talking in her native language."

"What are you guys talking about?" Aphrodite questioned.

Connor shrugged from inside the dome. "Usually when a girl likes you and tells you something she means the opposite of what she said. Except Annabeth might actually mean what she said to Percy which makes it confusing."

"I'm confused." Athena said.

"Just read Clarisse." Poseidon said.

**"You think this place is enchanted?"**

**She frowned. "I don't know. Something isn't right. Just ... be careful."**

"So then, _don't_ be careful?" Leo asked.

"No dude." Travis said. "She means what she says in the books. When she doesn't mean it she's talking to Percy."

"Oh," Leo said. "Continue Clarisse."

**We locked our doors.**

No." Connor said. "That makes it easy for them to attach you."

Travis stopped arguing with Katie for a moment to pat Connor's back. "It's alright dude. They're still here. Mason won't attack them."

"Okay."

**Tyson crashed on the couch. He tinkered for a few minutes on his metalworking project**

"I wonder what he's working on." Leo said.

"Well," Thalia started. "Maybe if we can get to read we might find out!"

"Jeez," Leo said. "Continue Clarisse."

—**which he still wouldn't show me—but soon enough he was yawning. He wrapped up his oilcloth and passed out.**

**I lay on the bed and stared out the porthole. I thought I heard voices out in the hallway, like whispering. **

"Mason..." Connor whispered.

**I knew that couldn't be. We'd walked all over the ship and had seen nobody. But the voices kept me awake. They reminded me of my trip to the Underworld—the way the spirits of the dead sounded as they drifted past.**

**Finally my weariness got the best of me. I fell asleep ... and had my worst dream yet.**

Percy sighed. _If only._

_Oh great. _Poseidon thought.

**I was standing in a cavern at the edge of an enormous pit. **

The deities shared a look.

**I knew the place too well. The entrance to Tartarus. And I recognized the cold laugh that echoed from the darkness below.**

_**If it isn't the young hero. **_**The voice was like a knife blade scraping across stone. **_**On his way to another great victory.**_

**I wanted to shout at Kronos to leave me alone. I wanted to draw Riptide and strike him down. But I couldn't move. And even if I could, how could I kill some thing that had already been destroyed—chopped to pieces and cast into eternal darkness?**

"Zeus," Hades reprimanded. "You didn't chop our father small enough!"

"It's not my fault." Zeus said. "You try holding on to a slippery mess of blood long enough to chop it."

"Ugh," Aphrodite said, her face a look of disgust. "TMI."

"You know." Poseidon said. "Hades has a point. I wouldn't have minded if you had took your time chopping Kronos into a million tiny pieces."

Demeter grunted. "If you're going to chop our immortal father into pieces, do it right."

"Hey," Nico said. "Couldn't you have just made a potion to take away his immortality, then killed him?"

...

"No!"

"Of course not!"

"That's absurd Nico!"

"Where'd you get that idea from any ways?" Hades asked his son.

"The Disney version of Hercules." Nico said. "Though, I should of figured that it wouldn't work since the Disney version _is_ fake."

Hades nodded and told Clarisse to read. The older deities exchanged looks and, to Hades's dismay, wondered why the Hades they didn't think of that.

_**Don't let me stop you, **_**the titan said. **_**Perhaps this time, when you fail, you'll wonder if it's worthwhile slaving for the gods. **_

Many of the deities held their tongues so they wouldn't curse. Aphrodite had to hold her's extremely hard so she wouldn't lose her French.

_**How exactly **_**has **_**your father shown his appreciation lately?**_

Poseidon set his jaw.

**His laughter filled the cavern, and suddenly the scene changed.**

**It was a different cave—Grover's bedroom prison in the Cyclops's lair.**

Poseidon let out a breathe he didn't know he'd been holding.

**Grover was sitting at the loom in his soiled wedding dress, madly unraveling the threads of the unfinished bridal train.**

**"Honeypie!" the monster shouted from behind the boulder.**

The demigods stifled their laughter.

**Grover yelped and began weaving the threads back together.**

**The room shook as the boulder was pushed aside. Looming in the doorway was a Cyclops so huge he made Tyson look vertically challenged. He had jagged yellow teeth and gnarled hands as big as my whole body. He wore a faded purple T-shirt that said WORLD SHEEP EXPO 2001. He must've been at least fifteen feet tall, but the most startling thing was his enormous milky eye, scarred and webbed with cataracts. If he wasn't completely blind, he had to be pretty darn close.**

Poseidon grimaced. All because of Odysseus.

**"What are you doing?" the monster demanded.**

**"Nothing!" Grover said in his falsetto voice. "Just weaving my bridal train, as you can see."**

**The Cyclops stuck one hand into the room and groped around until he found the loom. He pawed at the cloth.**

Poseidon's grimace worsened. _This is what his son was reduced to after that stupid incident with Odysseus? And the eye hadn't fully healed yet either._

**"It hasn't gotten any longer!"**

**"Oh, um, yes it has, dearest. See? I've added at least an inch."**

**"Too many delays!" the monster bellowed. Then he sniffed the air. "You smell good! Like goats!"**

**"Oh." Grover forced a weak giggle. "Do you like it? It's **_**Eau de Chevre. **_**I wore it just for you."**

**"Mmmm!" The Cyclops bared his pointed teeth. "Good enough to eat!"**

**"Oh, you're such a flirt!"**

Travis let some laughter escape.

**"No more delays!"**

**"But dear, I'm not done!"**

**"Tomorrow!"**

**"No, no. Ten more days."**

**"Five!"**

**"Oh, well, seven then. If you insist."**

**"Seven! That is less than five, right?"**

**"Certainly. Oh yes."**

Athena gapped at the book. _How much more stupid could that cyclops get?_ She ignored the glare Poseidon sent her.

**The monster grumbled, still not happy with his deal, but he left Grover to his weaving and rolled the boulder back into place.**

**Grover closed his eyes and took a shaky breath, trying to calm his nerves.**

Dionysus frowned. _Oh my dear satyr. _

**"Hurry, Percy," he muttered. "Please, please, please!"**

**I woke to a ship's whistle and a voice on the intercom— some guy with an Australian accent who sounded way too happy.**

"I wonder why he was so happy." Nico smiled slyly.

**"Good morning, passengers! We'll be at sea all day today. Excellent weather for the poolside mambo party! **

"Mambo..." Dionysus mused, his mind temporarily off of Grover.

**Don't forget million-dollar bingo in the Kraken Lounge at one o'clock, and for our **_**special guests, **_**disemboweling practice on the Promenade!"**

"Disemboweling?" Almost everyone chorused.

"Mason..." Connor muttered.

**I sat up in bed. "What did he say?"**

**Tyson groaned, still half asleep. He was lying facedown on the couch, his feet so far over the edge they were in the bathroom. "The happy man said ... bowling practice?"**

**I hoped he was right, but then there was an urgent knock on the suite's interior door. Annabeth stuck her head in—her blond hair in a rat's nest.**

"Your hair didn't look any better either." Annabeth said. ignoring the suppressed smiles around the room.

"Yes," Percy agreed. "But mine's was a bird's nest not a rat's nest."

"Whatever."

_**"Disemboweling **_**practice?"**

**Once we were all dressed, we ventured out into the ship and were surprised to see other people. A dozen senior citizens were heading to breakfast. A dad was taking his kids to the pool for a morning swim. Crew members in crisp white uniforms strolled the deck, tipping their hats to the passengers.**

Connor narrowed his eyes. Something was definitely not right about that.

**Nobody asked who we were. Nobody paid us much attention. But there was something wrong.**

**As the family of swimmers passed us, the dad told his kids: "We are on a cruise. We are having fun."**

**"Yes," his three kids said in unison, their expressions blank. "We are having a blast. We will swim in the pool."**

**They wandered off.**

"Creepy." Nico sung. "I agree with Connor." Everyone else nodded in agreement.

**"Good morning," a crew member told us, his eyes glazed. **

"There's your second sign that you should get off the ship." Rachel said.

**"We are all enjoying ourselves aboard the **_**Princess Andromeda. **_**Have a nice day." He drifted away.**

**"Percy, this is weird," Annabeth whispered. "They're all in some kind of trance."**

"Even Annabeth notices." Piper said. "But you're not going to get off are you?"

"No." Annabeth said.

"Oh joy." Poseidon muttered.

"You know," Nico said. "You always say that but you never mean it."

Poseidon shrugged. "Am I ever going to really mean it while we're reading these books?"

Nico opened his mouth and then abruptly shut them. _When _was_ he ever going to mean them?_

**Then we passed a cafeteria and saw our first monster. It was a hellhound**

Hades frowned. _What the Hades is a hellhound doing on that shilp? Oh great, I'm using my own name to swear now. _

—**a black mastiff with its front paws up on the buffet line and its muzzle buried in the scrambled eggs. It must've been young, because it was small compared to most—no bigger than a grizzly bear. **

"Small?" Thalia said, an incredulous look on her face.

**Still, my blood turned cold. I'd almost gotten killed by one of those before.**

Percy grimaced. "And now you have one as a pet." Chris said, low enough so the gods couldn't hear. "That's so ironic."

"My _life _is ironic." Percy replied.

"Touche."

**The weird thing was: a middle-aged couple was standing in the buffet line right behind the devil dog, patiently waiting their turn for the eggs. They didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary.**

**"Not hungry anymore," Tyson murmured.**

**Before Annabeth or I could reply, a reptilian voice came from down the corridor, "Ssssix more joined yesssterday."**

The demigods frowned.

**Annabeth gestured frantically toward the nearest hiding place—the women's room—and all three of us ducked inside. **

"Real manly Perce." Chris said.

"Thanks," Percy replied sarcastically and ignored the sly smiles from the other boys. "It takes a man to enter a girl's bathroom when monsters are rounding the corner."

"Oh sure." Ares grinned. "'Cause you're not supposed to fight them."

**I was so freaked out it didn't even occur to me to be embarrassed. Something—or more like **_**two **_**somethings—slithered past the bathroom door, making sounds like sandpaper against the carpet.**

**"Yesss," a second reptilian voice said. "He drawssss them. Ssssoon we will be sssstrong."**

**The things slithered into the cafeteria with a cold hissing that might have been snake laughter.**

The kids shivered and sent each other furtive looks.

**Annabeth looked at me. "We have to get out of here."**

**"You think I **_**want **_**to be in the girls' restroom?"**

"Yes!" The guys chorused.

"Oh shut up."

**"I mean the ship, Percy! We have to get off the ship."**

Annabeth rolled her eyes. "Because that wasn't already obvious."

"It was." Percy said. "But I wasn't focused on that at the time. I was in the _girl's_ bathroom!" At the end his voiced cracked slightly which caused Annabeth to roll her eyes and everyone else to chuckle at the two.

**"Smells bad," Tyson agreed. "And dogs eat all the eggs.**

Nico nodded.

**Annabeth is right. **

Thalia knit her eyebrows. "If Tyson _and_ Annabeth are agreeing on something then you'd better listen to them Percy."

"It's a scary thought by itself." Demeter said. "It's just like when Poseidon and Zeus agree on something about Mother Rhea during the solstice meetings. Completely scary."

Poseidon and Zeus glared at her. "Continue Clarisse." Demeter said.

**We must leave the restroom and ship."**

"Isn't leaving the restroom all ready applied if you're going to leave the ship?" Leo asked.

"Yeah," Percy said. "But Tyson is still a baby remember? There's not really much of a difference for him."

**I shuddered. If Annabeth and Tyson were actually **_**agreeing **_**about something, I figured I'd better listen.**

**Then I heard another voice outside—one that chilled me worse than any monster's.**

"What voice-" Nico started, but then he saw the looks on Percy and Annabeth's face and frowned.

**"—only a matter of time. Don't push me, Agrius!"**

"Agrius?" The deities frowned. _Who would deal with someone like that?_

**It was Luke, beyond a doubt. **

_Oh._

**I could never forget his voice.**

The tension in the room started to build up.

**"I'm not pushing you!" another guy growled. His voice was deeper and even angrier than Luke's. "I'm just saying, if this gamble doesn't pay off—"**

"Gamble?" Rachel asked. That sounded too much like what Hera was doing in her time period.

**"It'll pay off," Luke snapped. "They'll take the bait. Now, come, we've got to get to the admiralty suite and check on the casket."**

The deities glanced at each other with worried looks on their faces. They were about to commit on the situation but then they heard a yelp.

In the glass dome, Katie had Travis in a choke hold and Rachel was twisting Connor's arm behind his back. "Let go! Let go! *gasp* Can't breathe!"

"Arm hurts! Horrible pain!"

"Should we do something?" Jason asked.

"Not unless you want to get punched and brutally hurt." Clarisse muttered.

Hermes grinned at the scene. "The conversation is coming close to an end. I'll finally know the answer to this question."

"Uh-huh." Demeter said. "Continue Clarisse."

**Their voices receded down the corridor.**

**Tyson whimpered. "Leave now?"**

**Annabeth and I exchanged looks and came to a silent agreement.**

"I don't know how you two do that." Nico said. "Is there sometime of face signal you have to look for to know what you bothe mean or something? 'Cause I don't get."

Percy shrugged. "If you hang out with someone a lot and have a common enemy with them it's pretty easy."

Nico nodded. "Got it. So blame the government."

"No. That's not what I said." Percy said. "I said if you-"

Nico turned to the glass dome as Rachel slammed Connor onto the glass wall. "Blame the government Connor!"

Connor whimpered before Rachel dragged his face against the glass. "Ooh!" Nico said. "Isn't that going to hurt?" He asked Hermes.

"Not as much as it should." Hermes said. "I put some extra padding on the glass on the inside but it'll still hurt him a little."

**"We can't," I told Tyson.**

**"We have to find out what Luke is up to," Annabeth agreed. "And if possible, we're going to beat him up, bind him in chains, and drag him to Mount Olympus."**

"I wish." Thalia muttered.

"Wow." Chris said as he watched the fighting in the dome. "How long do you think they're going to go at it?"

Clarisse shook her head. "It's not how long they're going to go at it. It's how long do you think it'll take for the girls to tire out?"

"Wait a couple minutes." Ares said. "They'll tire out."

"Well that's the last chapter for today." Zeus said. "We should all head to bed now."

They were about to head to bed when all of a sudden a blinding flash lit the air and someone fell to the ground.

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><p><strong>Who fell to the ground? I don't know. You tell me. Although I have a definite idea of who else is going to be joining the story. I'll put up a poll but feel free to tell me in your reviews. Review if you feel like it. The next chapter will either come out on Sunday night or next weekend. Depends on how many reviews I get or how many people answer the poll.<strong>

**Happy New Year! Deuces to 2011! Hello 2012!**

**Erudite19**


	9. Another Contradiction

**Okay, so I haven't exactly updated since before New Years and you're probably just going to skip over this and read the story, which I don't mind. **

**But I _have_ been pretty busy, not just with homework or school. I made the track team! Yeah, I'm pretty proud of that. Even though it's just running for the most part. For any one who still checked my stories even after I stopped updating, THANK YOU. That means a lot. ANYways, enjoy and I'll try to update as soon as possible. **

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><p>Complete silence settled over the throne room. The flash of light receded and in its place lay a girl with dark, piercing eyes and long black hair. She looked around at the gods in a shocked and confused state. She looked completely embarassed also, like she knew that she should bow but was too occupied being bashful too get her bearings. Then she saw the kids and Percy and raised a questionable eyebrow.<p>

Piper glanced at Jason and her heart dropped into her stomach. He was staring at her with a dazed look on his face and when she finally met his gaze she too stared at him with the same look he was giving her. Percy looked between the three kids in shock. He knew this might not end well what with Jason liking Piper and Reyna mentioning that she might have had a thing with Jason. _Nope,_ he thought as he ate a sugar cube from Nico's pile-much to death boy's dismay-, _this is definitely not going to end well. _

Finally Zeus broke the silence. "And you would be?"

Reyna swallowed hard and stood up to face the gods. Some of the gods repelled at her like she had a deadly aura, which-considering that she's the daughter of Bellona-she does. The gods shared a look with each other, another demigod brought from the future.

Zeus sighed. "I suppose we should explain what you're doing here." Reyna stood still and waited for Zeus to continue speaking. "Very well. You've been brought here from the future. About ten years I suppose."

Reyna just stood there and stared at Zeus with her mouth open. Jason took this time to hide behind the Stolls. While Zeus continued to explain the predicament that Reyna had landed into Jason spoke to the Stolls.

"Look I really need your help-" Connor cut him off with an understanding nod.

"Yeah." Travis whispered. "Especially with the moon eyes you were giving... What's her name?"

"Reyna." Jason whispered back.

"Pretty name." Connor mumbled.

"So can you help me?" Jason asked.

"We'll need a moment to discuss this first." Travis replied.

Jason stood back a little and the Stolls discussed the situation. Then they notioned for Jason to step forward again.

"You have quite a starburst on your hands Jason." Travis said.

Jason furrowed his eyebrows. "A what?"

"A starburst." Connor said. "A juicy contradiction which doesn't really fit this problem because it's not much of a contradiction." He stopped because Jason still looked like he didn't get it.

Travis sighed. "Just know that you have a problem."

"We figure your dad will take forever what with his speech and everything so-" Connor surveyed the perimeter to make sure that it was safe. "See the ventilation shaft to the right?"

Jason looked over and nodded. It was kind of hard to see because it almost camouflaged with the wall but id he squinted hard enough he could see it.

"It's big enough to fit you." Travis started.

Connor smiled. "Unless you've added a couple pounds since you've been here."

Travis rolled his eyes. "Take that shaft. It's already open so just go in as quietly as you can. It leads into the kitchen." Travis explained. "The Oympians use it sometimes to smell any food from the kitchen or to listen to any gossip there. Go!"

Jason was about to go but hesitated. "Wait, why is it open already? Wouldn't it be shut tight?" Zeus sent Jason an irritated look like he wanted him to go already.

Connor and Travis shared guilty looks. "Don't ask questions! Just go. Your dads almost done." Travis yelled-whispered.

Jason backed up slowly. Then when he was behind one of the marble pillars, he rushed to the ventilation shaft and disappeared into it. Just seconds before Zeus finished explaining.

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><p><strong>Feel free to read the AN at the top if you didn't read it before or you just skipped it and read the chapter. I'll try to update as soon as I can. I'm not sure when but I will be finishing this story, and hopefully the other books. Bye!<strong>

**Erudite19**


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